Fear
by NCISVILLE
Summary: Are you afraid to sleep? Because after Iron Man 2 it seems our hero gets no rest and is plagued with nightmares of his worst Fear. After being drugged and overdosing, Tony falls into an induced coma in which he thinks his nightmare is reality. And after Hammer has broken out of Prison with a vendetta against Pepper and Tony, will Tony be able to keep Pepper safe? Sequel to ATTS.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all, for my previous readers this is the story that follows its' prequel An Alternative To Strawberries. I would highly recommend reading it as i will be using scenes in this story that have happened in my previous story. So i'm still with power for now. Yeah! for now anyways. This story will be like nothing you have read from me before, well it will be in the sense of awesomeness and Pepperonyness but creatively, all coming from my brain. not a script. So please read on, review, and most importantly enjoy reading this. **

**P.S. this story is originally gotten from the Song, Fear by Pauley Perrette and for my avid NCIS watchers, yes she does indeed play Abby Sciuto and yes the song was in an NCIS episode. which one i'll let you figure it out. but the specific line that i got the inspiration for this story is, "Are you afraid to sleep."**

Fear

"PEPPER!" Tony screamed and jerked up gasping for breath. He was sweating furiously and panting. He looked around the room he was in continuing to point as his heart was beating uncontrollably. He threw the covers off and grabbed for the glass of an unfinished scotch beside his bed. He swallowed a large gulp and tried to erase the same nightmare he'd been having for days from his memory. "JARVIS, what's the time?"

"One twenty three sir, you've been asleep for approximately forty-two minutes."

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose and swallowed another gulp of the scotch, finishing it off. Tony set the glass back down and got up out of bed before removing his sweat drenched shirt. The shirt landed haphazardly by his dresser knocking over a picture frame. Tony ignored it and walked down to his workshop knowing he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, and that he feared sleep. As Tony entered into the workshop his music began playing and it immediately helped take off some of the edge. He sat down at his desk and instead of his cars being his screen saver; it was various picture of Pepper and some of the both of them. Seeing Pepper was enough to ease his mind and Tony breathed out a sigh of relief. He mindlessly reached out and stroked the pixilated version of Pepper's face with the back of his forefinger. As Tony closed his eyes a brief flash of his nightmare came back to bite him and he snapped his eyes open just as quick as he'd closed them eager to escape.

"_You lose._

"_Tony we have to get out of here all these drones are rigged to blow." _

"_Pepper?"_

A shaky breath escaped his lips. "JARVIS call Pepper."

"Calling Ms. Potts."

The phone rung once, twice, three times. On the fifth ring Pepper answered and Tony could tell by her groggy tone she had been sound asleep and he felt a pang of sadness but ignored it as he knew he had to hear her voice to make it through the fifth consecutive sleepless night. "Tony why are you calling me? It's nearly one thirty!"

"Is it that late? I was just calling to ask you where you put my uh my thing for the thing im working on but I just found it. Sorry I woke you Pep, see you tomorrow."

"Are you okay? Why are you still up?"

"I'm fine." He replied taking in another shaky breath.

"You don't sound fine. Tony what aren't you telling me?"

"Really I'm fine." He said trying once again to reassure both himself and Pepper.

"Tony if we want this thing between us to work you can't keep leaving me out of the loop. This can't be another Palladium incident."

"Really Pep, I'm fine. I'll see you later. Get some sleep. I'm sorry I woke you."

"Tony Stark doesn't apologize and not at least without stumbling through it." Tony was silent unable to offer up an explanation and was suddenly thrown back into his nightmare.

_He was flying faster than he ever had before; dodging buildings left and right with only one thought on his mind. He could see Pepper now and his heart was pounding through his ears. _

"_Sir you're not going to make it."_

"_Shut up JARVIS. Increase the thrusters, put maximum energy into them."_

"_Sir-"_

"_Do it!" Tony screamed unable to bear the thought of losing Pepper. Then it seemed as though when he was a hundred yards away he stopped and started travelling in slow motion. _

_Pepper turned to look at him and met his gaze for a second, conveying just how scared she was but Tony saw another emotion, one he had never verbally expressed to Pepper, affection, love. He could see that she loved him and a second later her body was enveloped in a burst of flames consuming every part of her._

"_NO! PEPPER!" He screamed out feeling half of his soul die inside. Tony looked away and tears began to stream relentlessly down his face as his suit too, began to shut down much like his heart and mind. _

Tony was thrown to the floor and began convulsing before his body finally stilled around him, his senses were only aware of the hell hole his mind and body were stuck in

"Tony?! Tony?! JARVIS, what's going on?" Pepper asked frantically.

"It seems as though Mr. Stark has fainted due to the high intensity of being submerged back into is subconscious.

"Call 9-1-1 JARVIS, I'm on my way."

"Right away Ms. Potts."

Pepper hung up the phone and quickly swung out of bed not caring about changing out of her Psych pajama bottoms and black AC/DC shirt she had stolen from Tony. Pepper grabbed her keys and threw on a pair of flip flops grabbing a hoodie on her way out of the door. "Please be okay Tony." She whispered worried for his health.

**Ok so thanks for reading, i apologize for it being short but this was supposed to be an attention grabber chapter, an introduction of what is to come. Please feel free to review and leave any thoughts, do not shelter them. **

**For one of my guest readers thank you for all your reviews on my stories and thank you for the belated birthday wishes. Love all your comments and i so wish i could respond. **

**Okay so thanks guys see you next time when i'm available. **


	2. Tony's Hell Hole

**Wow so i was blown away by the amount of response this story got. Thank you all so much. If i didn't pm you i apologize, my computer is a little tempermental at the moment cuz of Sandy. But just a heads up the first bit of this is a dream within his nightmare, i apologize if this confuses anyone but italics will be our Tony Nightmare verse and regular will be the real world so i hope that helps you keep up enough. So enjoy, i apologize for the shortness of this one as well but it needed to end where it ended and you'll see why. **

Chapter 2: Tony's Hell Hole

_As his suit began to shut down and fall to the ground Tony didn't care. 'Let me die. I'm already dead without her' he thought as tears shamelessly fell down his face. As Tony impacted with the ground by the expo pavilion, the blow rendered him unconscious. _

_As he slept he felt at peace and thought himself beyond salvation. Pepper was his savior and she was gone and now so was he and he'd search forever until he found her. But as he thought this he heard a voice call out to him and the sound was the most beautiful music he'd ever heard uttered. _

'_Tony.'_

'_Pepper?'_

'_Tony.' The voice called again._

'_Where are you?' He asked desperately._

'_Tony.' She called once more._

_Tony turned around to face the sound and that's when he saw her. She looked like a goddess. Tony ran to her but it seemed as though he was moving in slow motion until he could move no more. _

'_I love you Tony' She said with a sad smile._

'_I'm sorry Pepper. I'm so sorry I never told you. I'm so sorry I wasn't brave enough to tell you I love you too. Please just take me with you. I can't live without you in my life.' His voice rasped. He was almost to Pepper. Tony reached out his hand to grab hold of her hand and she did the same. Their fingers touched and for a brief moment she smiled at him and everything seemed right again. In the next instant a breeze came and Pepper disappeared with it. The sky turned black and Tony was falling again speedily heading toward a pit of flames, the same flames that had taken Pepper. As his body hit the flames he awoke and saw Happy asleep on a chair beside him._

_He looked around and saw the white walls and then the black cast on his arm that cut off just above his elbow. _

'_Happy.' His voice rasped from lack of hydration. 'Happy.' Tony rasped louder. Happy jumped awake and looked to Tony. _

'_Hey Boss.' Happy said._

'_Pepper?' Tony asked needing to know if he really hadn't been able to save his one true love. Happy looked away and swallowed sadly. He looked back to Tony and shook his head no, unable to manage words. Tony looked away as the bitter tears of reality streamed down his face. 'I want to go home.'_

'_Boss, you have PTSD and a broken arm not to mention a few bruised ribs. You need to stay here so-"_

"_No. I __need __Pepper.' Tony argued._

'_She's gone Tony.' Happy said sternly. 'Pepper is not coming back, she's gone, she's dead Tony.'_

_Tony was quiet before speaking a moment later. 'I never told her how I felt about her.'_

'_She knew.'_

'_But I never __said __anything. I chickened out and I never got to tell her.' Tony replied guiltily._

'_She loved you, Boss just the way you are, she knew how you felt.'_

'_Take me home Happy.' Tony responded coldly shutting out Happy. Happy sighed and got up to walk out of the room and go find the doctor to talk about Tony's release._

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"What exactly happened here Ms. Potts?" asked the doctor glancing once to his patient that was sweating and blinking uncontrollably.

"I…I'm not quite sure. I was talking on the phone with him one second and the next JARVIS is telling me he's passed out. What's going on Doctor Downey? Is he going to be okay?"

"From what we can tell, and this is all preliminary, Mr. Stark is locked within his subconscious. I've seen this happen before but not at this high level of intensity that Mr. Stark is enduring. He's reliving a dream that will appear very vivid to him, when he finally wakes up he may even believe his dream was reality because of the high level intensity he's experiencing it at. I'm unable to tell you how long MR. Stark will remain locked in. It could be anywhere from a few hours to possibly even a few weeks. It's all circumstantial at this point. We aren't able to do very much for him due to his uh…heart…circumstances. We should be able to tell you more once his blood work up comes back."

"So what can you do for him?" Pepper asked remaining stoic until the moment she could be alone with Tony.

Dr. Downey sighed and said, "We can give Mr. Stark an IV to keep him hydrated and monitor his brain activity but I'm afraid at this point in time,…waiting is the only other thing we can do." Pepper nodded and walked over to Tony sitting beside him and slipping her warm hand into his cold one.

She looked at his face and noticed how he looked to be in so much pain. His usual playful features were contorted in pain. She noticed a single tear begin to fall from his eye and that was when her heart really broke. "God Tony, come on wake up. It's not real, none of it is real. Come back Tony, please I need you; I can't do this without you." But her pleas fell on deaf ears.

**Okay that's it for today, thanks again for reading and for all the support i've gathered so far. See you next time with an update. **


	3. Fake Reality

**Okay hey my fantabulous readers couple things before i let you loose, i've had various remarks on the whole Dr. Downey thing so i'll give everyone a bit of explanation. You all remember the Avengers right? You know that awesome movie with Capsicle, Shakespeare in the Park, the adopted brother, our duplicitous assassian, the man with breath taking anger management skills, our deadly accurate hawk, and of course our beloved Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Well you also remember laughing when phil was dying because he shot loki and said, so thats what it does. Comic relief. When we all are beginning to think Tony died and when he wakes up he says please tell me nobody kissed me. Comic relief. That is what my inputting Dr. Downey does, it kinda helps relieve a bit of this overwhelming tension and sadness. Believe me you're not the only ones who feel it. **

**Alright so thank you all for your reviews, favorites, alerts, all of em. Boy does it help light up my day after a hard six and a half hours of school to see i have a whole bunch of emails from fan fiction letting me know of your interest in this story. So thanks for all your support. Definetely as of now my most successful story and all of this came from you. :)**

Chapter 3: Fake Reality

_Tony walked into his house somberly and immediately retreated to his workshop. 'Welcome home Sir.' Tony ignored his Al and JARVIS spoke again, 'There was nothing more you could have done Sir." _

_Tony snapped and screamed at his Al, 'There's __ALWAYS__ something more I could have done.__ I__ should have died, not her!' he yelled. _

'_Sir there was a three percent chance you could have saved her.' _

'_When has statistics ever mattered JARVIS?! I __ALWAYS __break the rules and the __one time __my life depends on it and I can't deny the odds!? PEPPER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF ME! I KILLED HER JARVIS!' Tony screamed. 'I killed her.' He said again softer, breaking down. His body collapsed on the couch and he just lay there weeping, mourning over Pepper. _

_He heard the door open but his brain didn't really register it until he felt a hand on his shoulder. 'It's not your fault Tony.' Rhodey said as the man in front of him just layed there, broken, shattered into pieces, on the couch._

'_Yes it is Rhodey. I put her in danger in the first place.'_

'_Pepper knew what she was doing when she stuck by your side, Tony.'_

'_How can you not be angry with me? I didn't save her.' Tony croaked his eyes now red, his face wet, eyes sorrowful, his heart…shattered._

'_Because I know you and I know you did everything in your power to save her. I know that you would have pushed yourself past the breaking point to save Pepper. I'm not angry or upset because I know you loved her.'_

'_I never gave us a chance, Rhodey, I was too late.' _

'_She knew how you felt.'_

'_Everyone keeps saying that.'_

'_Then why won't you believe it? It's true, Tony. She knew you loved her. She told me once that she knew from your eyes. She said she could see your emotions through your eyes.' _

_Tony looked up to Rhodey and asked,' Really?'_

'_Really. She was in love with you, Tony, and I know she wouldn't want you to keep blaming yourself for her death. I'm not saying __not __to grieve because that's part of the process but it's not healthy for you to blame yourself for Pepper's death. I don't want to see a glass or any drink in your hand and I know Pepper wouldn't either.' Tony didn't reply, just stayed there trying to process this new information and for a moment, Pepper's death was pushed to the back of his mind and replaced by the fact she loved him. _

'_She loved me?'_

'_Yes Tony, she was hopelessly in love with you.' _

_For a moment Tony beamed Rhodey a smile and Rhodey returned the smile as he saw his friend's eyes light up the way Pepper had once described. Tony found his eyes begin to flutter as the knowledge of Pepper's love allowed his brain to finally start the process of making amends and allow him rest. Rhodey grabbed a blanket draped over the couch and draped it over his sleeping friend's body. He patted Tony's shoulder and whispered, 'Sleep tight Tony. JARVIS, dim the lights.' Rhodey went upstairs and layed down on the comfy leather sofa and pulled a blanket over himself, mumbling as his eyes closed, 'I miss you Pepper.'_

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Pepper looked up from the paperwork on her desk to look at the time. Six-thirty exactly. She stopped in the middle of her sentence and began packing up immediately. It had been a full week that Tony had been under and very little had changed. Pepper, through her haste to leave the office and go to the hospital, knocked over the knick knacks on her desk. The red ink in her pen splattered all over her papers. Pepper was submerged into a memory from the second day Tony had been hospitalized.

'_Ms. Potts, has Mr. Stark been taking any kind of medication?'_

'_What? No, no.' She replied a little taken aback by the question. 'What's wrong doctor?'_

'_Well we found high levels of oxycodone and levodopa in Mr. Stark's blood. Now I think based on what you've told me he is having and induced Nightmare disorder. The two drugs combined is why he's experiencing them at such a high level of intensity. Now I don't mean to offend but either Mr. Stark overdosed or he was drugged. Just having one of these drugs at a prescription dose can cause the nightmare disorder, sweating, sleeping, sometimes they can develop a second personality, seemingly normal tasks become hard and done inadequately. These drugs combined at such a high level are going to enhance your worst fear and the overdose is what locked him in that nightmare. That nightmare will then weave its way and fabricate its' memories in with the real ones and convince the person that nightmare, is in fact reality.'_

'_So someone drugged Tony and gave him an overdose and now he's stuck in a hell hole within his mind convinced its reality?'_

'_In a nutshell, yes. We'll keep taking blood work and monitoring the levels of the drug until it wears off. I don't want to risk giving him prazosin because we can't predict how it will react with the combined drugs. It could help him or it could kill him so the best option is to just wait for the drugs to decrease and flush it out of his system.'_

'_Thank you Doctor Downey.'_

'_Please, I get the feeling I'll be seeing you around frequently, so please call me Robert.'_

_Pepper gave him a half-hearted smile and said, 'Thank you Robert.' Robert returned the smile and nodded before leaving Pepper alone once more with Tony._

Pepper left the exploded pen and knocked over knick knacks to be cleaned for another day and finished packing up all her things. She grabbed her phone from within her jacket and swiftly dialed Happy.

"Hey Boss." Came Happy's chipper tone through the receiver.

"Hey Happy, are you out front?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Good, I'm coming out now Happy, have the car ready."

"The hospital?" He asked knowing he really didn't need to. Every day for the past week she gathered her things at six thirty-ish and left for the hospital.

"Yes." Pepper responded.

"Oh I just remembered, uh Rhodey called, he's waiting at the hospital with dinner for the three of us."

"Thank you Happy, I really appreciate everything you've done the past couple days."

"Tony gave me and Rhodey specific instructions to take care of you should something happen to him, I'm just doing my job, besides, friends help friends." Happy replied shrugging it off.

Pepper smiled for the first time that week and hung up beginning to walk out to the front where Happy would be waiting to take her to see Tony again. The past week had been more difficult than Pepper could have imagined. Between the press buzzing around lies and rumors and the inner turmoil she felt, not to mention keeping the company running, she was running on low and the only comfort she found was holding Tony's hand and running her fingers through his hair.

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Pepper and Happy walked into Tony's room and saw Rhodey sitting by his side, food on the table, watching the news.

'_There still has been no word on the billionaire, Tony Stark. Some think he's enduring the world's worst hangover, or simply bus living out the playboy part of his life somewhere in the world. Whatever the case is, no one is expecting to see him any time soon.'_

Pepper tried not to become angry with the media's portrayal of Tony, he had changed, but the media wouldn't know that. No one would believe he had truly changed, they never would. They would keep looking for him to mess up.

"How is he?" She asked looking to Tony.

"Well they said there is only a trace of the drugs left, so he should be waking up soon." Rhodey said. Pepper's heart skipped a beat. "So how are you doing Happy?" Rhodey asked turning to the man who had the hardest part of taking care of Pepper while Tony was out of commission.

"Well I've had a different route this whole week, but everything is holding up on my end." Happy said glancing briefly to Pepper then back to Rhodey.

Rhodey sighed and looked to Pepper, "You're not sleeping here are you?" He asked very concerned for her wellbeing. When Tony woke up he needed someone who would be well rested and he would kill them if he found out they allowed her to sleep at the hospital in a chair the whole time.

"I'm at work all day, this is the only time I get with him, of course I'm going to stay. I'm not leaving him, I don't care if it's not what he wants, he doesn't get a say in my sleeping arrangements until he's actually awake." Rhodey knew this conversation was going to lead nowhere so instead of pushing it further he dropped it and changed courses.

"So I have dinner for everyone."

Happy raised an eyebrow and asked hungrily, "P.F Changs?"

"Yeah." Rhodey said not surprised Happy could tell where it was from.

Happy immediately made his way over to Rhodey and sat down among the various cartons Rhodey began pulling out. Pepper grabbed a chair and brought it around the table Rhodey and Happy were seated at. Pepper ate and talked with Rhodey and Happy laughing occasionally but a part of her mind was constantly thinking about Tony waking up from his nightmare. She knew he would still be convinced his nightmare was reality but she just needed to hold him and feel him lying beside her, his arms wrapped protectively around her. She didn't notice when exactly Rhodey left and vaguely remembered Happy saying he left a change of clothes for her on the chair. Pepper looked to the chair and took the sweats, and shirt into the bathroom to change and came out with her clothes folded in her arms but one glance to Tony and the clothes fell out of her arms as she gasped.

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**So now we have some explano and a plot for future chapters oh ho ho. lol so thanks and i do apologize for the cliff hanger but um please don't yell but things will not be back to normal for a while but i get an inkling that the next chapter will make some of you melt. and yes im speaking from personal experience, i still melt lol. haha so i hope you are enjoying yourselves so far see ya round, drop me a line. :) oh and uh to some of you Happy Halloween. I'm going to church tonight yeah son. The Source!**


	4. Tony's Dream within the Nightmare

**Hey guys so i just wanted to give a heads up, you've all been very very lucky but i will no longer be updating daily. Sandy gave me the time away from school to write and type so this will be the last chapter of the daily updates. Five im not sure when ill get it to you, im guessing this weekend sometime and mind you i have another five day weekend so saturday-tuesday is up for grabs. Thanks so much for all the reviews and i know i've probably been gushing about this chapter but i really am so in love with this chapter and i hope you all will like it just as much as i do if not more. **

**Alright this is for one of my guests who reviewed, your review made me laugh so hard when you said he's awake or he fell off the bed, i got this right before i walked into church and a bunch of people just started looking at me. lol. Thanks for the laugh. :)**

**Read on, venture on, immerse yourselves, grab some popcorn, chocolate, get comfortable, review, enjoy. *not necessarily in that order***

***caution, you will have more than one awwwww moment.***

Chapter 4: Tony's Dream within the Nightmare

_As Tony slept he dreamed and never wanted to wake up from this beautiful dream._

'_Tony come on, get up.' Pepper said shaking his body. Tony groaned and pulled Pepper on top of him. Pepper squealed and Tony kissed her sweetly as she crashed beside him. _

'_Why don't we just stay in today.' He said eyes sparkling. Pepper smiled at him and kissed him once more as two pairs of feet came running into the room, smiles plastered, soccer uniforms on, and jumped on the bed. _

_Tony groaned as his son caught his stomach with his knee. 'Come on daddy, wake up!' cried his older son and younger daughter in unison. _

_Pepper laughed as she watched Mark and Skylar jump on their father. 'Come on dad, we're gonna be late for the game. Uncle Rhodey is already there.' Skylar said hopping off her father who grunted as her weight left him._

'_JARVIS what time is it?' Tony asked his Al._

'_Seven thirty a.m. Sir.'_

'_What time is the game?'_

'_Eight thirty dad, now hurry up and get up. We have to be there at eight.' Mark cried._

_Tony groaned and looked to Pepper for help. 'Alright kids go on back downstairs. Mark you can go work on your Robot but only until Dad and I come downstairs and then you're done, got it?" Mark quickly agreed excited to work on his robot and raced out of the room. 'I don't want to find any bolts on the floor Mark!' Pepper shouted after him._

'_Yes Mom!" Mark called out behind him._

'_Skylar you need to finish eating and then you can watch T.V okay?'_

'_Okay Mommy.' Skylar said happily skipping out of the room in her cleats. Once the kids were gone Tony groaned once more and pulled the covers over his head._

'_Oh no you don't. You have to get up now or they're going to be late.'_

'_Five minutes.' He moaned turning on his side._

_Pepper smiled evilly as she thought of a good way to wake her husband up and disappeared under the covers before trailing light feather kisses down his chest and stomach she stopped briefly as she got lower and grinned yanking the covers off of him along with his boxers. Tony yelped as the cold air hit him suddenly and jumped accidently falling out of bed._

'_Tease.' He reprimanded. _

_Pepper could only laugh and went over helping up her stark naked husband. 'Good morning Tony.' She said sweetly._

'_Good morning Pep.'_

'_Did you talk to Rhodey and Happy about Sky's party?'_

'_Of course, when have I forgotten to do something for my family?' he asked defensively. _

_Pepper raised an eyebrow and said, 'Really? You forgot Mark in the car when we came home with him for the first time.' Pepper said. 'Then you forgot about Mark's fifth grade graduation and showed up an hour and a half late.' She said._

'_In my defense I was a new father and I was worried about you and please I mean who has a fifth grade graduation? It's stupid.'_

'_I did.' Pepper replied calmly._

_Tony cleared his throat and began again, 'What I meant to say was-'_

'_Exactly what you said, don't lie.'_

'_I love you.' Offered tony._

_Pepper rolled her eyes and replied, 'Yeah, yeah, now get dressed.' _

_Tony smiled and walked into the bathroom yelling out, 'You complete me!'_

_Pepper rolled her eyes and sat on their bed grabbing a family photo sitting on his nightstand. Mark was their oldest, twelve years old. He had Tony's eyes, smile, intelligence, her height and hair. Their daughter Skylar, who was turning seven, had Tony's hair, sarcasm, stubbornness, forgetfulness, Pepper's smile, eyes, determinism, and detail oriented brain. Tony of course had made several Tony-ish sized mistakes the first two years they had Mark, but once Skylar rolled around he had mastered infants and toddlers. He was still learning but the effort he made was more than enough for Pepper, because she knew no matter what part of the world he was in being Iron Man, he loved both his children and adored her. Pepper set the photo down and quickly changed into jeans and a long sleeve shirt to prepare for the cold morning. She walked into the bathroom and saw Tony standing there wrapped in is towel shaving. She smiled and walked over to him taking a spot beside him on her side of the sink and grabbed out her make- up from underneath the sink to finish getting ready but Tony had other ideas._

_He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her kissing her neck lightly. Pepper smiled welcoming his touch. 'Tony.'_

'_Yes Pep?'_

'_We need to get ready.' _

'_I can be quick.' He said huskily still placing kisses on her neck. Pepper fell herself giving in more and more with each kiss and before she knew what had happened her clothes were on the floor, she was on the sink, and Tony was smiling lovingly. 'I told you I can be quick.' He said placing a kiss on her collarbone._

'_Well it's a good thing I love you because I'd be hitting you right now for making us late.' _

'_That's funny because a minute ago you weren't complaining. Besides we still have five minutes before thy have to be there.'_

'_Yeah and it's a fifteen minute drive.' She said throwing her clothes back on. _

'_I can make it seven.' _

'_Let's not try and kill ourselves today, you do that enough as Iron Man.'_

'_Whatever you want Pep.' He complied happily. _

'_You're glowing Mr. Stark.' Pepper said with a satisfied smile as she hurriedly applied her make up. _

'_What can I say? The affects you have on me Pepper Stark are endless.' _

_Pepper smiled as she watched him exit the bathroom and into their room to change. It was eight fifteen when Pepper and Tony finally arrived. Happy had gone ahead and drove the kids knowing from years of experience that Tony would make them late. They met up with Rhodey and Happy on the sidelines and set up their chairs for the game. Mark was in the goalie box when he spotted his father and flashed him a signature Stark smile and waved. Skylar followed Mark's distraction and a smile also engulfed her face as she waved to her parents. Each player was lined up on the field practicing goal attempts and Skylar was up. _

'_Come on Oreo, take your best shot.' Mark teased his sister. _

'_You can't handle my best Mark; I can only show my awesome in bursts otherwise my awesome would blind everyone.' She retorted._

'_Hmm well now that sounds like someone I know.' Happy said glancing to Tony. _

'_They certainly are your kids.' Rhodey commented. Tony laughed and Pepper just rolled her eyes as Happy nodded in agreement._

_Skylar took a step back calculating where she wanted to go and ran up a foot putting all the power she could into the kick as her mind calculated the trajectory, speed, and power she needed to cover the distance given her size. Tony watched as the ball soared and landed in the net in the top right corner. Mark jumped up as high as he could but tipped the ball unable to have enough lift to block the ball. Skylar beamed her brother a smug smile and Mark muttered, 'Lucky shot.' Skylar smirked and trotted to the back of the line._

'_That's my girl.' Tony said proudly._

'_Alright well while you're still a proud daddy why don't we talk about her party.' Pepper said patting his shoulder as Tony wiped away a fake tear from his eye. _

'_All the decorations are in the back of my truck.' Rhodey said._

'_All the presents are still at my apartment.' Happy said. _

'_Alright and I'm picking up the cake and going with Happy to get the presents.' Tony said._

'_And I'm taking the kids to get clothes for school and then meeting back up at the house for noon.' Pepper concluded. 'Alright so we're all on the same page.' Pepper said with a sigh of relief. _

'_Yup and I'm cooking up the burgers.' Rhodey said with a smile._

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'_Hurry up Happy, it's almost noon.' _

'_I am hurrying!' Happy said as he swerved in between two cars. _

'_Careful I don't want the cake ruined.' _

'_Well you can't have your cake and eat it too.' Happy retorted sarcastically. Tony was holding on to the cake in his lap and kept frantically looking to his watch._

'_Sir, incoming call from Colonel Rhodes.'_

'_Put him through.'_

'_Tony, where the hell are you guys? Pepper said she's five minutes out. You're supposed to be here before the birthday girl arrives to yell 'surprise'. That's kinda how a surprise party works.' Rhodey hissed nervously._

'_Yeah, I get that Rhodey, but Happy here, had a little bout of amnesia for like twenty minutes when it came time to get the presents. We're about eight, nine minutes from the house. I'll call Pepper and tell her to stall.'_

'_Just hurry up and get here.' Rhodey said with a sigh hanging up._

'_Step on it Hogan, JARVIS, call Mrs. Stark.'_

'_Calling Mrs. Stark.'_

'_Tony?' Pepper asked._

'_Hey Pep! Can you stall your arrival for like five minutes?'_

'_What exactly do you want me to do?' she demanded._

'_I don't know, stop at a seven eleven or something, get em' a slurpee.' Tony said. 'Happy and I are running late.'_

'_Why am I not surprised?' She asked herself with a sigh and roll of her eyes. _

'_Because you've known me for twenty- five years and have been married to me for thirteen?' he asked hoping he was indeed correct._

'_Must be.' She muttered. 'Bye, love you.'_

'_Love you too Pep, forever and always.' Tony hung up and held onto the cake as Happy slammed on the brakes and he flew to the other side of the Rolls Royce smacking his back against metal. 'Ouch!' Tony groaned._

'_Sorry boss.' Happy half-heartedly apologized._

'_Just drive Hogan, just drive.' He ground out as his back began to ache. _

_Happy and Tony arrived swerving into the mansion six minutes later and hurriedly with Rhodey's help staged al the presents and put the candles on the cake for Skylar's display. Tony heard Pepper's voice outside and hissed to his friends, 'Hide!' Happy took cover behind the kitchen counter while Rhodey hid behind a column and Tony vaulted himself over the couch landing on the floor with a thud as his face broke his fall. 'Oh God that hurt.' He groaned above a whisper._

'_Shhh!' Happy and Rhodey hissed. _

_Tony listened attentively and the first voice he heard was Sky's. 'Where's Daddy? I thought he was here?' Sky asked confused._

'_JARVIS lights.' Pepper said as they walked into the space where all the rooms met. _

_Those were the key words that everyone was waiting for and as they were said Happy, Rhodey, and Tony all jumped out yelling, 'SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'_

_Skylar's face lit up as Mark came up smiling and gave her a big hug. 'Happy birthday Oreo.' He said ruffling her hair a little. _

_Sky frowned as he messed up her hair but her frown disappeared as Tony came up to her and engulfed her tiny frame in a hug lifting her up off the ground. 'Happy birthday honey.' Tony kissed her cheek and set her down so Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper could give her their warm wishes. Tony walked up to his wife with a smile and kissed her. 'Welcome home Mrs. Stark.'_

_Pepper smiled. 'Is her present in your workshop?' she whispered. Tony winked and smiled. _

'_I better get this party started.' _

'_Are you sure you should be the one starting this party? The last time you hosted a party you blew up your house with Rhodey.' Pepper smirked. Tony shot her a faux hurt look. _

'_Alright Sky, do you want to eat first or open presents?' _

'_Eat.' She responded in a tone that suggested her answer was the obvious, logical one. _

'_That's your child.' Pepper said with a laugh._

'_Alright Ms. Sarcastic, how many hamburgers do you want?' Tony asked his daughter. _

'_Is Uncle Rhodey making them?' She asked, an eyebrow raised. _

'_Unless you want me to make-'_

'_NO!' Everyone shouted in unison._

'_Well okay then, Rhodey, looks like you're up.' He said. _

'_Happy can you help me in the kitchen please?' Rhodey asked walking into the kitchen. _

'_So Sky, what do you want to do while we wait for the food?' Tony asked his little girl._

'_Fly with you!' Sky answered with a big smile. _

'_Fly with me? You don't want to play apples to apples with Mommy?' He asked his heart soaring. Sky shook her head no still smiling. Tony couldn't help the smile on his face and gave in. 'Alright.' He relented dramatizing his answer. _

_Sky ran and jumped into Tony's arms. 'YAY! Thank you Daddy!' _

_Tony kissed her hair and shifted Sky onto his hip. 'Alright Mommy, we'll go flying and you guys stay here and get all the food ready. Call me when you're ready for us.'_

'_Be safe. Have fun.' Pepper said placing a quick kiss on Tony's lips and Sky's forehead. 'Happy birthday Sweetie.' _

'_Thank you Mommy.' Sky said beaming her a smile._

'_Ready?' Tony asked Sky._

'_I was born ready.' She said._

_Tony laughed and said, 'Actually you were born a week late.' With a smile he walked down the stairs, Sky on his hip, heading for the workshop. _

_Tony entered in his code and set Sky down taking her hand and walking over to the platform. Tony knelt down in front of her and said with a twinkle in his eye, 'Alright, this is a present I made for you. I want you to say, 'JARVIS prepare the Sky I'.'_

_Skylar let out a gasp and a smile engulfed her face. 'JARVIS prepare the Sky I.' _

_A miniature Iron Man suit began to come out of the platform floor only it was painted blue and gold. Tony handed her a mini jump suit and said, 'Alright you need to change and put this on before you get into the suit. It's thermal so it'll protect from extreme conditions.' Sky quickly kissed Tony's cheek and darted to the bathroom coming back in less than a minute changed. 'Okay, now just step into the boot and stick your arms out into the gloves. Don't move though until it's all on, got it?'_

'_Okay.' Skylar did as she was told and less than a half minute later Skylar was stepping off the platform with the face mask still open. _

'_JARVIS are you uploaded into the Sky I?'_

'_I have indeed been uploaded sir.'_

'_Good. Deploy the Mark X.' In an instant Tony's suit flew onto him in pieces and attached themselves conforming to his body. 'JARVIS check the weather patterns and flight plans.'_

'_There are two scheduled flights out of LAX bound for Detroit and D.C. The weather conditions are fair with a slight breeze.' _

'_Alright Sky listen, to fly you have to activate the thrusters.'_

_Sky remembered watching her father suit up for a mission before and said, 'JARVIS, set thrusters to maximum power.' _

'_Maximum power?! What?! Sky no!' Tony shouted but Skylar was already zipping away out of the mansion._

'_Activate thrusters.' Tony said and began flying after his daughter._

'_If I may Sir, you once told me you have to run before you can walk.'_

'_Of course you would use that against me now.' Tony muttered as he tried to catch back up with Skylar._

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_Skylar's party had gone by in what seemed like minutes to Tony. One minute he was flying over Canada, the next eating a burger and slice of cake, watching Skylar open all her presents with a smile and the next he was putting her in her room telling a bed time story like he always did. As Tony lay down in his bed wrapping his arms around Pepper, he smiled. _

'_So you think she enjoyed her birthday?' Tony asked snuggling up into Pepper._

'_Of course, their team won by two with her scoring the final goal and she couldn't stop talking about flying with you.' Pepper replied. _

_Tony smiled, happy that he was able to make his daughter smile. 'Good.'_

'_Now go to sleep, I'm exhausted.' Pepper soon drifted off to sleep and Tony began playing with her hair as he always did to ease his mind and fall asleep. Not five minutes later Tony was sound asleep. He didn't know what time it was but he suddenly felt someone start shaking him. As he cracked his eyes open he saw Pepper standing over him but he heard Happy's voice coming through her lips and he sounded distant. _

_He blinked his eyes open and then found Happy shaking him saying, 'It's time to go back Boss.'_

_Tony blinked his eyes again rapidly feeling groggy and confused and opened his eyes to a blur of monitors and white, floral decorated walls._

That's when he heard her gasp.

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**Whoo, this chapter so long but i wasn't willing to split it up i wanted you to stay in the dream with Tony. So i hope you liked it. Review and prepare yourselves for longer than a 24 hour wait for a new chapter. Love you all! Have a terrfic weekend!**


	5. Awake

**Hey all thanks for reviewing thus far and i want to go ahead and apologize now, this is the shortest thing ever and i apologize if it is difficult to read but nonet he less i hope you will continue to read and enjoy.**

Chapter 5: Awake

Tony tried taking in everything at once but his mind felt groggy. He heard someone gasp but was unable to focus his eyes on who the gasp belonged to. Everything was blurred from the intense white light berating his eyes. He heard the voice that had gasped speak and his heart lurched. "Doctor!" He knew that voice, he longed for that voice to be real. The face that it belonged to was Pepper, his Pepper, the one he couldn't save. Tony thought his mind must be playing tricks on him, giving him the one thing he yearned for the most, her. Was he dreaming? In the next moment a mass of bodies surrounded him blocking the light and his eyes started adjusting to his surroundings.

The first thing her noticed was a swarm of blue shirts and one white coat. "Mr. Stark, do you know where you are?" Tony shook his head no. "You're at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center. You ingested an overdose of medicine and have been in an induced nightmare."

Tony tried to process this information focusing only on the doctor and not what the other nurses were doing. "It wasn't real?" he croaked.

"Get him some water please Tara." The nurse quickly scurried off and came back seconds later with a dixie cup of water. As Tony took the cup with shaking fingers he swallowed the water slowly. "None of what you experienced was real, it was all a dream."

"Pepper?" he asked feeling confused.

The doctor smiled and said, "She's been here all week waiting for you to wake up."

"She's alive?" he asked hopeful but ignored this hope as flash backs flashed through his mind reminding him of the pain he felt. "No, no, I saw her die, I… I couldn't save her." He said refuting this information given to him. It was real, it felt too real, too vivid for it to only be a nightmare.

"Tony, I'm here. You did save me." She said breaking through the bodies and coming into his view clasping his hand in hers.

Tony ripped his hand out of hers and shouted, "NO! NO! I SAW YOU BLOW UP! VANKO KILLED YOU, I WAS TOO LATE! I SHOULD HAVE DIED! YOU'RE JUST HERE TO HURT ME AND HAUNT ME! YOU'RE NOT REAL! GO AWAY!"

Pepper looked on at him with hurt, sad eyes, and a broken heart. She knew that Tony would wake up thinking nothing was real but she had never prepared for the thought that she wouldn't be real to him.

"Ms. Potts, I think it best you leave now." The doctor said softly to her as Tony continued to shout. Pepper tore herself away from Tony with tears in her eyes as saw as she left that he too had tears in his eyes.

Pepper grabbed out her phone and dialed the one person she knew would be able to help Tony. "Rhodey, I need your help." She said as silent tears streamed relentlessly down her face. "Tony's awake and he thinks I'm dead."

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**Sorry for the wait and shortness again. My plans got canceled today which is why you now have this 515 word chapter. Drop me a line tell me what you think, if you have to rant go ahead. Share anything that's on your mind. See you when i'm available next, have a great weekend!**


	6. Progress

**Again, a fairly short chapter i apologize but things are beginnning to look up so hey there's that. thanks for all of my readers for reading and keeping this story alive. **

**To Abbie Wilson:**

i'm just reviewing the whole story right here in the shortest way i can. brilliant. amazing. i want a movie made from this. you and stan lee need to talk! wow. this along with the prequel is just amazing, best fanfic i've ever read. i don't feel like i'm praising it enough? honestly amazing! absolutely on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter! i want to be Skylar purely for the Sky l. trying to keep this short but basically, each detail, pure brilliance. thank you so much for this story &its prequel!

loved this chapter, can't wait for more! my curiosity is growing as to how Tony managed to get those 2 drugs in his system to cause him being trapped in his nightmare?

**Thanks for all the kind words, it was definetely the highight of my day, i had to show my sister i was so happy, lol. As for the overdose, next chapter is when i'll begin to introduce how that comes into play. ;) thanks for reading and reviewing! So glad this fic does it for you. **

**Okay now onto the story, read, enjoy, review. **

Chapter Six: Progress

Rhodey came walking briskly into the hospital at ten past eleven wearing black sweatpants that looked fairly worn and a green, run down, Air Force t-shirt. Tony had been awake for almost an hour and as of twenty minutes ago had finally stopped being badgered by the nurses and his doctor. Pepper was sitting outside of Tony's room hugging her knees to her chest. The tears were gone and all that remained were red eyes ,tear stained cheeks, and an aching her heart.

"Hey Pepper." Rhodey said softly kneeling next to Pepper.

"I need your help Rhodey. He doesn't believe I'm real and when I try and talk to him it just raises his blood pressure. Could you…just talk to him?" She asked sadly, begging Rhodey with her eyes to help her so she could have her Tony back. "He needs someone to help him and I can't…not yet. I know he needs me but…he doesn't…want me."

"Hey hey, we knew something like this was going to happen. We'll get Tony back, everything will go back. I'll talk to him, Pep." Rhodey said standing up and brushing off his sweats. He gave Pepper a small smile and opened up the door to Tony's room and met the man's eyes. He looked so confused and so lost, like he was fighting to know what was truth. "Hey, Tony, glad to finally see you awake."

"What's going on Rhodey? What's happening? The last thing I remember is talking to you and then going to sleep."

"Tony what exactly do you think is going on?"

"I…I don't know what to think anymore. The doc. is trying to tell me everything I've been experiencing has all been a nightmare but,…it felt so real Rhodey, her dying. I was there, I saw her body being consumed by flames." He said looking up at his friend with what could only be described as raw pain and fear.

"No Tony! No! You saved Pepper. You brought her to the roof I was on. You kissed her and then I stopped you before my roof became an NC-17 movie in front of my eyes. You've been dating Pepper for nearly a month come tomorrow. You were on the phone with her right before you became locked in. Look, I have a picture from the day before it happened of you and Pepper. I took it when I was snooping." Rhodey said becoming excited, hoping that the picture would help jog his memory.

Rhodey drew out his android quickly and flipped through the pictures until he found the desired one. Tony held the phone in his hands just staring at the image that numbed his mind. His throat dried as he began to question his vivid reality nightmare. "So…so…she's real? The Pepper look-a-like trick that was in here earlier, she's real? She's not a ghost to hurt me and remind me of what I thought I lost?" he questioned his friend very much wanting this prospect to be real and his other reality what it was, a vivid nightmare.

"She's real buddy, and she really missed you. We all did, but it's been harder on her this past week."

"Week?" Tony asked in a surprised tone, unable to fathom the thought he'd been asleep for a week but what felt like only two days for him. Tony looked at the picture again trying to remember and make the picture what it was, a memory in his brain. A memory sparked for a brief second but it was enough to give Tony some hope. "I…I remember something from this. I…she was yelling at me for skipping a meeting." He said looking to Rhodey excitedly.

"Not surprised." Rhodey muttered. That's when it clicked for Rhodey, if Tony's memory had been sparked by a picture then maybe all they needed to bring Tony back was a montage of pictures of the two of them together. Rhodey smiled delighted that he had made some progress. He couldn't wait to tell Pepper and maybe by tomorrow evening they could spend the remainder of their anniversary together.

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**See, look some happiness in all of this sadness finally, granted he still doesn't fully believe Pepper's real but he'll come around in time for their anniversary right? Or will he? muhahaha. ahem uh nothing. Hope you liked it, i'll see you when i see you for the next chapter. Have a great monday! No school for me plus i'm playing laser tag. Doing three games later today. I have two names picked out and i need a third so as you review pm me if you have an idea, iron man themed por favor. My first two are SnarkyStark and PepperPotts. I usually take second but im hoping i can harness the awesomeness of RDJ and finally take first. Wish me luck! Love you all! :D**


	7. Two Dark Deaths

**Hey guys, so at least you were fair warned about the hw. phew and sickness man and i cant fall asleep till midnight, especially this last week, i realy do apologize. i had to take a day cuz we're finally at where i need to start planning out and doing fine detail planning. Rest assured, when you get your Pepperony it may or may not be an overwhelming doseage, like Tony's OD. One of my firends, and closer friends just got engaged to each other last night and i am just so bubbly happy. lol. thx for sticking around this long. I do appreciate it, and very much appreciate the reviews.**

**Speaking of reviews: Dancingthrough: thank you so much for constantly reviewing. I so much appreciate it. **

**Read, enjoy, review, caution, short chapter. Sorry. :(**

Fear Chapter 7: The Dark Deaths

Erik Orok glanced around the dark street nervously, black hoodie drawn over his dark, hazel ,eyes, hand fisted into the pockets of the hoodie; before walking into the dim lit alley. He walked down the alley continuously glancing over his shoulder until he passed a dumpster and was yanked into a smaller alley that split off. Before his eyes could adjust a fist landed squarely on his jaw and a knee into his groin, forcing him onto his hands and knees with a gasp of pain.

"I thought I told you we needed him alive and out of the hospital you idiot?" Came the voice from a dark hooded figure with what Erik would describe as a fairly deep, masculine voice.

"He…drank… too much." Erik gasped out as the pain radiated throughout his groin.

"Yeah, and you put too much of the drugs into the scotch in the first place! Whose fault is that?!" The man asked his voice livid with anger.

"I'll try again. I won't mess up this time." Erik said as he began to come to terms and ignore the pain.

"You're damn right it won't." The man said pulling out a snub nose revolver and putting two into the skull of his unsuspecting victim.

Erik collapsed in a heap on the ground, his head pouring out the warm substance that was already beginning to pool. The man held the revolver at his side in his gloved hand and stepped over his victim, flipping off his hood and tossing the revolver into the dumpster confident that no DNA or prints could be traced back to him.

As the man slipped back into the quiet, dark, city streets he pulled out his phone and dialed his number one speed dial and waited for the receiver to pick up. "Hey Boss, it's Fisher. Yeah, it's done; let the big boss man know." Danny Fisher hung up his phone and slipped it back into his pocket, fisting his hands into his pants pocket and slinking back to his abandoned apartment to grab a new gun and meet up with his next rendezvous.

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Robert sighed as he walked up to his house door and withdrew the key from his black overcoat pocket. As his hand moved to insert the key he noticed his door was already open a crack. "What the hell?" he said under his breath as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Robert pushed open the door stepping into the dark foyer. "Hel-"His question was cut off as his breath in his throat was stifled. Robert thrashed trying to free himself from the hands choking him. His throat began burning, his lungs crying out for air, his muscles crying for freedom.

"Hello Doctor, Robert Downey." Came a voice t=in front of him not matching the hands. "Your services as MR. Stark's doctor are no longer required. We have someone else for that position." Danny Fisher said as he pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and shot the doctor once through the chest. The hands around Robert's neck realized and Danny nodded to the woman who had been choking the doctor.

"You'll go in tomorrow, got it Dyksterhouse?"

"Understood Boss." Emma said with a nod. Danny grinned; he did enjoy being called boss.

Robert gasped for oxygen as he heard his door shut and the people leave. Slowly he felt himself becoming increasingly tired and knew it was from all the blood he was losing.

'_Oh God, forgive me Emily. I'm so sorry.'_ He thought.

Robert slowly closed his eyes trying to fight against death but not a minute later slipped into a never ending black cave with a glimpse of white at the end.

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**Alrighty guys so leave me something to help fill the gap till i can update again, say like a review ;). Love you guys. se ya round here.**


	8. Anniversary

**Hey readers lol so i was talking with one of you earlier and what was sacrificied was Trig. lol so not much to say here. Thanks for reading, i do apologize for the long wait but i hope this small burst of happiness will help. **

**Read, Enjoy, Review, as always. **

Fear Chapter 8: Anniversary

Tony slowly opened his eyes as an onslaught of tainted red, yellow, sunlight greeted him. The last thing he remembered was talking with Rhodey. As his eyes fully opened he realized why the sun had appeared red. Pepper was asleep on the tiny couch in the corner of his room. Tony shifted un-comfortably but stopped himself and quietly reprimanded himself.

'_No Tony, no. Pepper is real, everything else is a lie. Rhodey wouldn't lie to you. Today is your anniversary so you need to at least pretend, for her sake.'_ Tony squinted his eyes and kept repeating to himself until he finally believed it, '_She's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead.' _When he finally opened his eyes again, Pepper was gone. Tony looked around and was pleasantly surprised when he realized his heart had begun to ache with Pepper's absence from his room. He looked to the clock and read that it was almost eleven. Another hour and a half passed by with no new visitors for tony. He was eating a cup of cherry Jell-O, watching a Spanish soap opera he couldn't understand a lick of, except for hola; when there was a knock on his door. Tony looked away from the T.V. and over to his visitor. He went to move but stopped himself and forced a small smile, forgetting that she would be to see right through it.

Pepper returned his small smile with a sad one of her own and softly asked, "Can I come in?" She didn't want to push him away, not today of all days.

"Yeah." He said following her with his eyes as she walked in and dragged a chair up beside him with the chair moaning in protest.

Tony took in her appearance wanting to help make her real to him. He knew she must be hurting just as much as he was and he wanted desperately to help ease that pain. "I brought you something." Pepper said softly, withdrawing what would appear as just a small pane of glass to anyone else.

"My phone?" He said not quite understanding why of all things she would have brought him his phone.

"Rhodey told me pictures help so I created an app with JARVIS for your phone last night, well technically it was this morning, but that's besides the point. I thought it could be sort of like an anniversary gift." She said shyly only half way meeting his eyes.

Tony winced. Even though he knew his mind was screwed up, Tony knew this was not his Pepper. This Pepper in front of him seemed so shy, like a timid mouse walking on eggshells around their alcoholic father not knowing if they would suddenly burst. He knew he couldn't really blame her, he was doing this to her; and he knew if he ever wanted to return back to normal, or as normal as one could ever get, easing her mind would ultimately help him.

"I know you're real…Pep." He said softly trying to catch her eye. He knew those words uttered had hit him for her because in the moment, her arms were flung onto him, her figure on the bed with him, and her head was in the crook of his shoulder, her eyes pouring out Niagara Falls onto his hospital gown.

Pepper didn't know exactly what possessed her body but just the softness in which he had spoken those words had torn down every wall she had built to keep her overwhelming emotions at bay.

Tony wrapped his arms her reveling in the warm, comforting affect her body had on him, and the sweet smell of her hair. He stroked her hair as she cried and found that soon he also had tears in his eyes, trickling down his face like the first raindrops of a thunderstorm. When Pepper's crying finally relented Tony placed a hand on her cheek and tenderly wiped away the remaining tears from her wet, red stricken face, with his thumb staring deep into her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She apologized immediately moving to scramble off of him feeling embarrassed.

Tony caught her wrist and softly pleaded, "Stay, please, it helps when I can hold you. It makes it more real." Pepper sniffled and observed his demeanor. His eyes had a hint of need, but that wasn't what she saw when she met his gaze. She felt his sorrow and pain, but she saw that as she began to move physically closer to him, her presence helped alleviate the tension in his body and his eyes softened underneath her gaze. He was able to breathe easier. And so she obliged and crawled back up to him wanting desperately to just take his lips with hers and pour out her soul to him in that kiss, but knew that he would do so when he was ready, on his own accord, not her's and she knew she couldn't pressure him or she would consequently push him away. So she stayed curled up on his side, head resting on his chest as he gently stroked her hair and back.

"I put pictures of us on the app I mentioned earlier, you know, to help."

"Let's see them." He said earnestly.

Pepper looked up at him confused and said, "What?"

"I want to look at them…with you." He said again clarifying. Pepper shifted and withdrew his phone starting it up and selecting the app she had labeled, Memory Lane. She shifted up on the bed and lie on her back as she adjusted his bed into a sitting position. Tony pulled her closer to him, wrapping an arm around her waist and brushing the hair back that had fallen on her face with the other. Pepper gave him a small smile as her heart fluttered and held up the phone so they could both see.

The first picture that appeared was one that had been taken just days after they began dating by Happy. "I remember that!" Tony recalled excitedly as the picture sparked his brain cells into action, remembering all the details surrounding the picture. "This was our first date. I had attempted to make dinner for you; uh chicken parmesan with green beans, and I failed miserably. I burnt the water for the green beans, the chicken was under cooked, and the cheese on top of the chicken was burnt to a crisp. The chicken started smoking and set off the fire alarm and then I had the fire department at my house for half an hour. Then you decided to make me dinner and we ate peanut butter and nutella sandwiches. I suggested we watch a movie; you picked out, The Proposal, and not a half hour into the movie you had fallen asleep on me. Then I remember pulling you close and drifting off with you in my arms. Happy came in early the next morning and took this." He said proudly as he continued to look at the picture of them curled up together on the couch sleeping peacefully.

Pepper smiled happily at him and her face had this warm, welcoming look that captivated Tony and found himself gravitating slowly toward her until the final moment when he grabbed her by the hips and swung her on top of him to the point where she was straddling him. Tony put his hand on her hips and pulled her lips to his wanting to remember every touch, every smile, and every kiss he had ever shared with her. He captured her lips in such a passionate kiss that Pepper was caught off guard, her breath stolen. Tony relished the feeling he received as he felt Pepper's need and desire for this kiss and he deepened it until he felt her pull away gasping for breath, her chest heaving as her lungs rapidly tried to replenish its oxygen supply. Pepper rested her forehead against his as his hands still were placed firmly on her hips.

"I missed you." She whispered.

"I'm so sorry." He apologized as everything around him gradually began to click in place. That kiss was the last thing he needed to finalize Pepper's existence. "Happy anniversary, Pepper." He whispered softly leaning his head up and capturing her lips in a much softer, sweeter kiss.

"Happy anniversary. Tony." She parroted happily. Pepper removed herself from his lap knowing that Tony had only wanted her as close to him as he could get her, not because he wanted something more. Pepper lied back down on his side as his arm snaked around her waist keeping her close, and continued to flip through more pictures for the next few hours feeling over joyed and content, and just all around…satisfied that her Tony had finally begun returning to her.

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Emma Dyksterhouse walked briskly out of her office, throwing on her lab coat, and slamming the door shut, heading over to the nurses' station to chat with those that had been working closely with Danny's last victim, Doctor Robert Downey. When she was questioned on his where abouts, she simply responded with she didn't know and that all they had told her was that she needed to come into work and that she would be handling all matters relating to Tony Stark until he was released.

Emma gathered what she could and then headed into the room of the man she would ultimately help destroy to be with the one man she couldn't live without. She walked into his room and the first thing she noticed was that there was a woman lying with Tony on his bed, curled into his side, her hand on his chest. Based on what she already knew about Tony, she assumed the woman was his girlfriend, and boss, Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries. Emma walked over to his monitors and recorded the information she needed to keep on record and then walked over to his I.V. to check on the fluid. Based on his vitals he would be able to go home tomorrow which meant she had to act fast is she wanted to set this whole thing in motion. Emma glanced quickly to the sleeping woman on his side and noticed she had a happy smile on her face as she slept and thought, '_Enjoy it while it lasts Sweetie, because you'll be gone soon.' _ Then walked out of the room heading to the computer to log everything.

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**Alrighty so that's it for now, i have to type the next chapter but it is written and that is when we finally meet the mastermind behind this whole thing so OverARainbow, i hope you finish your book in time for the next chapter. Thanks guys for everything. Appreciate every single one of you, even those i dont know lol. See you all next time!**


	9. The Mastermind

**Hi everyone. I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who is reading this sentence now. Thnak you. Also im sorry for the wait for this tiny chapter but i suppose its that or nothing right? What are you gonna do. Alrighty so read, review, enjoy, and have a great night or day (depending on when you're reading this) :D**

Fear Chapter 9: The Mastermind

Emma sat in the chair fidgeting with her hair as she nervously waited for the door to buzz open to reveal the man she had so recklessly, unintentionally, fallen in love with. As she waited she thought back to how they had met and knew it was shear fate they had bumped into each other that day. Emma looked over herself again making sure she was presentable and knew she was being ridiculous. Emma Brooke Dyksterhouse was twenty-eight and already a highly respected doctor that worked in the E.R, but had gotten her masters in neurology. She was a 5 '7', medium build, brunette, fireball of passion.

She currently had her hair in a ponytail, denim jeans hugging her hips, and a t-shirt with multiple flower patterns fitting her form with matching tan sandals. The door finally buzzed open snapping Emma's focus to the man entering in an orange jumpsuit and matching cuffs with a smile plastered on his face. She mindlessly jumped out of the chair and ran to him pulling him into a mind blowing kiss pouring out her soul to him before a prison guard pulled her back and said sternly, "No physical contact."

The man in question waved it off and said, "Relax Bobbie, she's not going to hurt me."

Bobbie nodded reluctantly and said quickly trying to reassert his authority, "You have five minutes Hammer, and then it's back to the cell, got it?"

Justin Hammer nodded non-committedly to the guard and smiled genuinely to Emma. "Hi beautiful. How are you?"

Emma blushed and smiled at his candor. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm alive, I have you, and my plan is coming to fruition, I can't complain." He said smiling at her. Emma returned the smile and kissed him again.

"You'll be out son. I just contacted Danny today; he was able to sneak back in under the water heater identity and drugged his scotch again. Tony is being released later today and the place is almost ready. I miss you." She finished softly meeting his own sad eyes with hers.

"I'll be with you tomorrow night Emma." Justin said softly, grazing a kiss on her cheek.

"I love you Justin." She said taking his hand and pressing it to her cheek.

"I love you too." He said with a small smile as Bobbie came back in to take Justin back to his cell. "Stay safe Emma." Justin called out and for a brief second Emma read the fear and concern etched into his features and laced in his tone.

"I will." She replied to no one as the door shut behind him leaving her heart with an ache. Emma filled the ache with hope, knowing she would see him tomorrow night and it wouldn't be in cuffs or an orange jumpsuit. And the fact that Pepper would suffer what she had to during the time Justin was incarcerated, in a matter of weeks only helped make her feel better and give her the extra strength to keep going until Justin was with her, safe in her arms.

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**So so, be honest, how many of you guessed JH was behind all this? Did i throw you off by adding random namless people you've never heard of before? hehe. Sound of in your review. And it will be in two chapters when we see JH again. Next chapter, full blown Pepperony. Legit, non stop. Lol thanks for reading be sure to leave a review! Always brightens my day even at one in the morning lol. **

**See you guys next time! Lilia is out. Burn Notice is coming on. **


	10. Something Forgotten

**Hey everyone so just a couple things before i set you loose, Happy** **Thanksgiving! Alright second, i finally gave you a decently sized chapter, 2,000 words i think is decent, fair, adequate, use any other word you like. Alrighty and lastly, wow you guys must have hated the last chapter for your own reasons because last chapter had exactly one review from my faithful reviewer, dancing through. (Thank you btw) **

**Okay so now i'm done ans as always, read, enjoy, review, oh and eat lots of Turkey and Pumpkin Pie,(If that's your thing. Suggestion, put some cinnamon on top , i repeat on top, of the pumpkin pie. Tastes even better.)**

Fear Chapter 10: Something Forgotten

Tony pulled the shirt over his head, over joyed that he could finally leave this dank hospital. As his head popped out of the shirt, much like a turtle would pop his head out from his shell, he basked in the arm rays penetrating through the windows. Tony stood there keeping his eyes closed as he continued to welcome the feel of the sun on his skin, inhaling a breath and slowly releasing it.

Pepper was out with his newer doctor, signing release forms. Happy was waiting out front with the car and doubted that Christine Everhart wouldn't be there waiting for him as well.

"Worst mistake ever." He mumbled to the air around him. A few minutes later Pepper came walking back into his room with a smile on her face that reached her eyes as she observed his position by the window.

Pepper lightly knocked on the door so as not to startle him, having completing her objective she asked cheerily, "Ready to go?"

"Let's get the hell out of here." Tony replied with a grin and snatched the small duffel bag of clothes Pepper had brought him and without missing a beat slung it across his neck to rest on his left shoulder and stepped beside Pepper taking her hand in his right. She beamed him a smile and laced their fingers together placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

"You look like a hobo." She said affectionately as they walked down the hallway, after having repeatedly glanced at his features. Tony feigned a hurt expression, and being the drama king he was went so far as to remove his hand from hers and place it over his heart. "Your face is overgrown and straggly. It looks as though you grew a squirrel up there." She explained wrinkling her nose. "Not to mention scruffy. I do have to kiss you with that you know." She said with a playful smile.

"Sure, make fun of the guy with PTSD who was just drugged stone cold and out for a week having to live through the realest nightmare you could never imagine, thinking the one thing that mattered most was dead, because of something I had done or rather failed to do." He said rolling his eyes and wincing internally. Pepper stopped him mid step and swung around to face him, looking deep into his eyes as if she were searching for something he had stolen. Tony understood what she was doing and softly spoke trying to reassure her. He encased her face in his palms and softly pressed his lips to hers. "I know this, right here, right now, us, is real Pep. I know you're real and I believe that." He took her lips once more hoping it would convey what he couldn't manage to say yet, 'I love you'. As Pepper pulled back, Tony thought he saw a flicker of doubt pass through her eyes but couldn't be sure because in the next instant her eyes were sincere and happy.

"Good." She simply said earnestly. Pepper switched back onto his side and took her hand in his once more intertwining their fingers and continuing the trek down to the front on the hospital. As they reached the main lobby front doors Tony's eyes flitted all around and upon concluding gave a sigh of relief that Christine Everhart was nowhere in sight. The only sight he saw was Happy leaning against the car door, arms and feet crossed in his black suit with a smile on his face, shades shielding his eyes from the sun and from the few tears that had gathered there earlier. As they drew closer to Happy a grin appeared on both the men's faces that were, in a sense brothers.

"Enjoy your time off?"

"Oh time off from you? Most definitely, but Pepper kept me busy so I didn't have to wallow around moping. But boy, was it nice not having to randomly drive two hours just because you had the sudden urge for Harold's pizza, and you have the self-control of a toddler." Tony chuckled and Happy opened up the door with a grin.

Tony allowed Pepper to enter first and grabbed Happy's arm when the man turned to leave. "Did the blue jay visit while I was gone?" Happy looked confused at first but after a second the light bulb flickered on in understanding. It was their code phrase for Pepper. He was asking how she had been while he was out in the hospital.

"No, I guess it stayed cooped up in its nest this week." Happy replied nonchalantly.

Tony frowned and asked the follow up question Happy was waiting for, "But you did leave out food and water, right?" A.K.A, you did try and help her right?

"Why are you guys talking about birds?" Pepper asked with a confused smirk on her face as she popped her head out of the door to see what the holdup was.

"Oh uh, no reason, I was just asking about the blue jay I usually feed every day. I'll be in in just a minute." Tony replied shrugging off her question as if it was common knowledge.

"Well hurry it up, I want to go home." Pepper said scooting back inside the car.

Happy looked into Tony's eyes and said to him, "Everyday." Tony felt a little better now knowing that Happy and Rhodey had at least don their best to take care of her while he was gone. Tony nodded his thanks knowing that Happy would be able to read between the lines what he hadn't said.

Tony ducked his head and climbed into the back of the car with Pepper and curled her up into his side. Pepper smiled as his arm wrapped around her and scooted closer so her body was pressed into him. The ride to the mansion was silent but comfortable and rather quick.

It was when he walked into the house, with Pepper at his side, and JARVIS spoke that he finally broke his silence. "Welcome home Sir."

"Thanks, JARVIS. Good to be back."

Tony inhaled a breath and softly said, "I'll be back in a minute." Pepper smiled knowing exactly where he would be heading He had to go to his workshop, just to make sure nothing had been touched. Tony had a big peeve about anything in his workshop being touched unless he touched it.

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Tony bounded down the stairs to his workshop entering his password second naturedly his mind focused on only one thing, Pepper's anniversary gift. As they had sat in silence on the way home his thoughts had been brought to their anniversary and he remembered getting it early and putting it somewhere in his workshop. He was sure Pepper thought he had forgot or gotten it last minute but much to even his own surprise not only had he remembered, but he had remembered a week in advance when he was out with Rhodey for lunch and passed the jeweler he had gotten it from.

"JARVIS, where is the box I got for Pepper?"

"You put it in your toolbox sir in the top drawer with the wrenches."

"Thanks J." Tony said quickly walking over to his toolbox and grabbing the box out with a smile before hiding it and leaving to head back upstairs.

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As said, Tony was back up in less than a minute with a smile on his face. "Feel better?" She asked playfully.

"Not yet. I never got to give you your anniversary gift and I actually did get it before I was hijacked." He said sheepishly.

Pepper looked at him in disbelief feeling completely dumb founded. "You remembered? And you got it early?" She asked feeling touched at the sentiment and proud of him before it finally clicked in her brain that this was Tony. Immediately her face morphed and she questioned skeptically, "Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend, Tony Stark? Did that overdose do something to you?"

Tony knew he should be offended but couldn't find it in him to be upset that she doubted him, and so he just chuckled and said, "Good to know you have so much faith in me."

"How long have I known you for? And of those years, how long have you been known for remembering to do anything on time without being yelled at, let alone early?" She asked raising an eyebrow, crossing her arms in defiance and dis-belief.

Tony chuckled and removed a box from his pocket, black velvet, neat red ribbon on top. Pepper eyed him skeptically looking hesitant to take it from him. "Just take it." He prompted pushing the box to her to take. She hesitantly took it from him and opened it not breaking eye contact with Tony whose eyes were gleaming proudly and he motioned with a nod of his head for her to look at the gift.

Pepper glanced down at its contents briefly then back to Tony. Her brain began to register what she had seen and darted her eyes back down to the gift with a gasp of surprise passing through her lips. "Oh…Tony…oh its…"

"You like it?" He asked nervously shifting his footing and fidgeting with his hands not used to feling this nervous or insecure around her before.

She looked at him and nodded, "I…I love it Tony, thank you."

Tony flashed her a genuine smile of happiness and motioned for her to put it on. "Come on Pep, put it on." He urged.

Pepper looked down at the silver charm bracelet band with two charms dangling from it like branches on a tree blowing in the wind. One was a specially made 3D charm of his Iron Man helmet and the other was a miniature silver pepper spray can. Pepper laughed a little through the mix of tears that had anonymously began falling, and took the bracelet from where it rested comfortably on its' make shift pillow. Tony helped fasten the bracelet onto her wrist and rested his palm on her cheek drawing her lips to his where they connected, the sweetest of hearts, and the kindest of kisses.

"Happy anniversary Pep." He whispered softly in her ear before kissing her again. "Your lips are my new choice of addiction." Tony said huskily drawing back and resting his forehead on hers.

Pepper smiled and kissed his cheek. "Let's go sit on the couch. I want a movie and you need to rest."

"The last thing I need is sleep. Whenever I close my eyes I always go back to that place." He said his eyes pained and sad, his gaze distant. "Please don't make me go back." He pleaded close to tears before willing them to go away.

Pepper was taken aback by the shear terror and agony and complete and utter pain she heard in his voice and clearly saw in his eyes. He was allowing himself in this rare moment to be completely vulnerable with her even when just yesterday he didn't believe she was real, and he still didn't fully trust himself again.

"Okay,okay. You don't have to go back, you can stay right here, with me, where you safe. You don't have to go back there Tony." Pepper said takinghis hand and covering hit with hers. Pepper dragged him over to the couch and had him lay down so his head was resting on her lap where she could stroke his face and entangle her fingers in his hair. "JARVIS, turn on the T.V and start up the movie, The Blind Side."

"Beginning movie. Buffering complete." The Al spoke filling the air all around.

"Thank you JARVIS."

Pepper continued to stroke Tony's hair and minutes later into the movie she could make out the sound of his even breathing and see the slight rise and fall of his chest. She leaned down and kissed his forehead whispering against his skin, "Sweet dreams my love."

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**Thanks guys, i'll see you back here again when i'm available and done writing the next chapter. We got some action coming up to start reaching the climax.**


	11. Prison Break

**So i would have posted this two days ago but the last two scenes would have been cut from it and this flows when all these scenes are together. it's kind of like the movie vantage point. i'm also really sorry i didn't have this updated sooner. But i'm happy to report the muse has fully returned and operating at an even faster paced level. I've already written three other chapters. it all comes down to typing them. So sorry again for the wait but patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait. **

**Read, enjoy, review, maybe eat some popcorn, and listen to some Christmas music**

Chapter 11: Prison Break

Emma looked all around her cautiously, before pulling off of the dark, quiet, foresty back road. She looked at the time her watch read, eleven fifty-two. Her heart began racing, beating nervously as the time drew nearer. 12:06 and Justin would be sitting beside her in the 04,' blue, Toyota Echo, that blended into the black night at the patch of forestry she was parked by. She cut the engine not wanting a passing car to see the car running. She glanced nervously to the trees and willed for it to be time already. Emma prayed Danny was in place and that Bobbie wouldn't back out at the last minute.

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Bobbie glanced at his watch. 11:58. It was time for him to get in position. Bobbie grabbed a prison guard uniform and walked to Justin Hammer's cell block. He knew what he was doing was wrong but he couldn't very well allow his mother and girlfriend to be murdered because he couldn't push his morals aside for eight minutes and sneak Justin Hammer out of prison.

"Put these on now." He ground out tossing the uniform through the bars. Justin Hammer grinned mischievously.

"Hey Bobbie. Time already?" He asked in an above normal chipper tone which could be traced back to his girlfriend and his freedom he was about to experience.

"Just put it on and let's go."

"I guess we should get going. I have a dime piece waiting for me." He said a smile plastered on his face.

Bobbie inserted the key into Hammer's cell and looked at his watch before turning. Midnight exactly, it was time to head to the laundry. As they approached the first camera Hammer pointed to it with a smile knowing that Danny had successfully already began the loop and he wasn't on the video feed the guards were watching. Hammer grinned at the camera and did a mock salute, his every step an extra bounce added as they made their way to the laundry room. Once they reached it Bobbie entered the master code he had stolen and the door buzzed open. They stepped inside and locked the door behind. Lying on the shelf was a pile of neatly folded civilian clothes.

"Now Bobbie, I don't about you, but I don't swing that way so…privacy please."

Bobbie withheld his want to physically restrain the other with a punch to the nose and instead turned around to face the door, checked his watch and said, "Twelve o' two. Two minutes Hammer, and then I'm shoving you down that chute."

Justin grunted as he put on the jeans and sighed in displeasure. He hated jeans, he wanted so bad to be re-united with his Gucci suits. "Now now Bobbie, no need to be un-civil."

Bobbie ground his teeth, hating the guts this man had to be joking when he had threatened the lives of the people Bobbie cared most about. Said man kept his eyes fixated on his watch, itching to be able to shove Justin Hammer down the laundry chute. He grinned momentarily as 12:04 appeared on his watch and turned around, grin gone. Hammer was fixing his jacket when Bobbie said, "Let's go."

"It's all business with you, isn't it? No fun at all." Bobbie ignored the comment and helped lift Hammer up to the chute and pushed him with all the force he could muster, his intention, to hurt Hammer. And as Hammer shot down the chute at an un-godly speed, Bobbie, heard him whine, "Ouch.", and smiled.

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Danny looked to his watch as he sat waiting in the security guard office. He sat back and quietly reflected on everything going on and how Hammer had found him.

_Six months earlier in the Flushing, New York, county jail._

_Danny walked outside in the yard, happy to finally be able to go outside in the sun. He glanced around knowing that if he didn't make enough eye contact he'd be walked all over, but if he made too much eye contact however, he'd be seen as a threat and dealt with as such. He walked over to the bench press and layed down, lifting the bar up with a huff and pursed his lips, his cheeks looking like balloons. _

'_I could use a guy like you on my team.' The sudden voice startled Danny from his thoughts, and off balanced the bar sending it lop sided onto his chest with a grunt. 'Sorry.'_

_Danny huffed as he lifted the bar back up to rest and held a hand to his bare chest rubbing it in circles as he stood to give the man who had startled him a piece of his mind with the use of his fist. 'You got some nerve still standing here. Don't know if you insane or you have balls.' Danny said gruffly, taking in the appearance of the man in front of him with a smirk. There was no way the guy in front of him would survive._

_There was no way the guy in front of him would last long. He gave off the feeling that this guy had been primped his entire life, a rich bastard. He looked really girly, even with the impending beard that was starting to make its presence known._

'_It's like I said; I need a guy like you working for me.'_

'_I don't play well with others fella, check my rap.'_

'_I did, which is why I'm talking to you now. Washed out army soldier, your team died from an RPG in Iraq years back. You were the only one that survived. When you came back you started working as a gun for hire but you've never been caught. You are also a very skilled hacker, but all you've been caught and charged on is stealing some cars.'_

'_Yeah, well, I got set up. Now who the hell are you and how do you know so much about me?'_

_The man smiled and extended his hand, 'Name s' Justin Hammer.'_

_Danny shook the man's hand with a laugh. 'You're the SOB who helped destroy a quarter of Flushing.'_

'_Well, my lawyer says to admit nothing and deny everything, but yeah.'_

_Danny grinned and asked curiously, 'So why do you need me?'_

'_Well, I'd like for us to become friends for before I discuss any business. I'll call my lawyer and have him set up a meeting with you so we can get you found not guilty and outta this place. '_

'_And what if I don't want your friendship?' Danny asked skeptically._

'_I'm sure that won't be the case. I'm very persuasive. If you're in, meet me at dinner in the corner table.' Justin Hammer walked away, leaving Danny to return to his workout. _

Danny snapped out of his flashback and glanced at his watch, 11:59. "Already? Well, time to dazzle their minds and set a captive free." He smirked to himself and started up the loop. A second later he saw Justin Hammer and grinned with satisfaction at his accomplishment as he saw only Bobbie on the feed the guards would be watching. He mock-saluted Hammer in return and grabbed his laptop quickly, packing up and heading back out the front door to meet up with Emma. "Success." He muttered with a proud grin.

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Emma was shifting in her seat, nervously fidgeting with the knick knacks in her car as the time neared closer. Her heart longed to hold Justin and she was tempted to get out of the car and run to meet him halfway. A short laugh escaped her as she thought of when just months ago, she had sworn she wouldn't fall in love and then she had met Justin. Everything had changed. Suddenly life seemed enjoyable again. Emma had fallen in love just by meeting his gaze once. His eyes reminded Emma of her father's, once vibrant, compassionate eyes. You saw her father's eyes and you just felt at peace, overwhelmed with love, at home. Justin was her home; she didn't care about what he had done in the past because love was blind, love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it did not boast, it was not proud. It did not dishonor others, it was not self-seeking, it was not easily angered, and it kept no record of wrong.

"Love conquers all." She mused aloud with a small smile and laugh. Thinking of him always calmed and also excited her. Emma looked to the radio and as she read the time displayed, she began to worry. It was 12:07 and nobody was in the car yet. "Where are you?" She whispered to the air around her. Suddenly there was a knock on her window and Emma shrieked in fear, jumping where she sat. Upon seeing who it was she breathed a sigh of relief and unlocked the door. Danny clamored into the back seat stripped of his security guard uniform he had taken off the other guard's dead body. "Where's Justin?" She asked worriedly.

Danny stopped in his tracks and stiffened, halfway through pulling the seat belt to its connector. "He's not here yet?" He asked in a deathly cool voice. Emma's heart began to pound and blood rushed to her ears. Dread began to settle in her heart and stomach and she hated the feeling. "I watched him get out clean, maybe he got lost in the-"

A figure cam bursting through the thick parcel of trees, looking rather terrified. Emma's heart raced as she saw Justin, not registering the alarmed look he wore. Justin threw open the passenger side door, dove into the seat, and slammed the door behind him, not caring about formalities yelled in a panicky voice, "DRIVE!"

Emma turned the key on command and the car hummed to life. She floored the gas pedal and they shot off just as a prison guard burst through the same spot Justin had emerged from, and another just after.

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Chadwick Michael Deam was hurriedly walking into the gates of the prison. "Shoot! Twelve o' six." Chad silently prayed his boss, Marcus Pine, who was quite the hard ass, wouldn't fire him for being late again this week. Besides, it's not like it was his fault some teenager decided to slash his tires and he had to call his mom for a ride. As he adjusted the cuffs of the uniform, something flashed in the corner of his eye. As he turned, he saw a silhouette running toward the forest and immediately took off sprinting after the man. Luckily, high school and college track, was coming back to help. Chad quickly whipped out his radio and pressed the button yelling into the receiver, "This is Deam. We have a code red, I repeat code red. We have an escape." Chad heard a reply on the radio that someone who had already been on their way out was thirty seconds away and would help. A few seconds later he saw someone else come running out of the north east side of the prison to help.

Chad sped up and caught up with the other guard easily. The team wordlessly ran into the sickening, creepy, dark, dense forest of foliage. As they inched closer and closer with every passing second, Chad saw a glimpse of the man's face and looked on at him in bewilderment and alarm. He grabbed for his radio and said, "I have I.d.'ed our runner. Hammer."

"Justin Hammer's escaped?!" he heard a familiar voice yell. It was Marcus.

Chad saw Hammer break through the forest and pushed himself faster to regain eyes on the man. He heard the sound of an engine and broke through the shrubbery, his partner hot on his heels, just as the car screeched away. Chad quickly grabbed his radio once more as the other man heaved, trying to gasp for air. "This is Deam; Hammer got away. There was a small, blue car, that looked like a blueberry, waiting for him. I was unable to see the driver."

"Report back to the prison. We'll group and I'll get the police down here and sniffing Hammer's trail a.s.a.p. We'll discuss your tardiness later Deam." His boss said gruffly through the wave of static.

"Yes sir." Chad replied dutifully, feeling angry with himself that he couldn't catch Hammer.

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***Dime Piece* for all you psychos out there you know this word. Season 5 episode 7 "Ferry Tale"**

**Craig: Man is she a dime piece.**

**Shawn: Dime Piece? What does that even mean?**

**Juliet: It's a hot woman, a ten. and thank you. **

**Also 1 Corinthians 13:4-9(TNIV)**

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

**Thanks for reading guys, be sure to drop me a line to share your thoughts and throw in even more momentum to this story.**


	12. Hell

**Hi everyone, i apologize in advance for one the delay on this chapter and two all the mistakes you will probably read. There are a number of reasons why and some i'd rather not say. Bottom line it's been a really rough week. So i'd like to say thanks for those of you who are still reading. i took a look at the stats and needless to say it's gone way down, but hey to be expected right. and for the three of you who reviewed last chapter. Thanks bunches! Please forgive me guys. I do apologize. **

**Read, enjoy, review**

Chapter 12: Hell

Tony awoke with a slight startle at the sound of metal clashing with porcelain. The first thing he noticed was that Pepper's warmth had been replaced with a fuzzy, plushy, blood red, blanket. The second thing was that he was lying on his wrap around, cushy, egg-shell colored, leather couch. Tony lifted his head with a small grunt to identify the sound and looked to the kitchen, where he saw Pepper making breakfast and washing dishes as she went along. Having cleared up and identified that the sound was only a frying pan falling to the floor, and that there was no threat, Tony lay his head back down on the couch and folded his hands behind his head, reflecting on the nightmare he had been startled awake from. It was the same nightmare, but it seemed…less intense than it had just days ago. Yes, he was still affected by the nightmare, and it ate at him, but he knew in his heart Pepper was as real to him as the air he breathed, someone that would never betray him. Knowing this, he was able to push past and emerge the winner in his mental battle. But alas, it seemed every time he got back up on his feet something was trying to pull him don and pull him back off his feet.

When he became Iron Man, he began to die. When he finally started dating Pepper, this happened. A chill ran through Tony's body as he heard nightmare Pepper's, echoed plea of desperation for help. Tony gathered momentum and pulled himself up in a sitting position. A more…pleasant thought, ran through his mind of Pepper as he saw her in the kitchen making breakfast. A brief smile graced his lips and he decided to get up off the couch and walk over to Pepper. Pepper smiled when she saw him enter the kitchen and shifted her attention to him for a moment before returning it to the food in front of her.

"What's this?" he asked softly, kissing her cheek from where he stood behind her.

"This is your inflight meal." She replied with a smile he couldn't see, but rather heard.

"What's today?" he asked, the same smile on his face.

"Tuesday, November fifteenth." She said.

"Hmm." He replied thoughtfully.

"What 'hmm'?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"Nothing with you is ever just nothing. Now, move unless you want to get burned." Tony slid out of the way as Pepper turned around holding the skillet in one hand and brought it over to the breakfast bar and served up the eggs, giving Tony over half. There was also some fruit on the plate, sans strawberries. Lying on an oven mitt sat a frying pan filled with hash browns. "Sit." She ordered. Tony complied, pulling out a chair quickly and sat at the bar counter grabbing for Pepper's mug of coffee. "Hey! Hands off Buster! That there is mine and mine alone." Tony took another sip of coffee and set it down, moving instead for the covered frying pan of hash browns and serving himself and over filling spoonful, spilling them on top of his eggs.

"Hey Pep? Can you get the ketchup please? Oh, and a glass of milk!" He asked batting his eyes. Pepper rolled her eyes and moved to the fridge to pour him a cup of milk and get the ketchup. As Pepper sat down to eat and placed the items in front of him, a sense of peace washed over her.

"How'd you sleep?"

"I slept." He replied evasively.

Pepper pursed her lips; knowing he wasn't going to open up and simply asked in response, "Better or worse?"

Tony paused for a moment, re-living it and answered, "Better."

Pepper simply nodded and Tony asked JARVIS to turn on the news. Pepper was taking a rather large gulp of coffee, Tony a bite of eggs, when they heard the announcer casually tell them the latest breaking story. Coffee was decorating the counter, eggs choking Tony.

"_The Flushing Prison has stated how Justin Hammer was seen early this morning fleeing from the Prison. It is said that he had help and was seen taking off in what a witness described as, 'a blueberry'. No other information has been given but a country wide man hunt has been issued for Justin Hammer. He is reported dangerous and sinister."_

Tony's throat clenched up and a cold fear settled over his heart. He instantly got up from his seat. Face blank and pale as a ghost, his emotions raging beneath the surface. He silently left Pepper and walked downstairs isolating himself with in his workshop. "JARVIS, pull up everything on Justin Hammer. From the time he was arrested to now. I want to know every detail, what he ate, who he ate with, how much time he got outside, everything JARVIS, and I want it now."

"What are you planning sir?" JARVIS asked in what would be considered a worried tone if robots could embody human emotions.

"I'm going to find him and put him back where he belongs. He'll be coming after me and I know he'll go through Pepper to get to me. I have to keep her safe, I cannot lose her JARVIS." He said, whispering the last part. A collection of new clippings, videos, and magazines appeared in front of him as he sat in his hot rod. "JARVIS, put on my AC/DC mix."

As Tony combed through all information for nearly an hour, his mind was stuck on the 'what if's'. What if Hammer came after him and shot Pepper? What if he kidnapped and killed her? What if his worst nightmare came true and he couldn't save Pepper in time?

"Sir, incoming call from a blocked number."

Tony's jaw clenched and he said, "Answer it and start a trace JARVIS."

He knew exactly who would be calling him, he was plastered on every T.V. in America, on all the news' channel's, and every newsstand. "Anthony! Hey Buddy! How ya doing?" He asked in a fake chipper tone.

"What do you want Hammer?" Tony snapped in reply.

"No hello? No greeting? Anthony, I'm hurt." He said in mock hurt.

"Cut the bull Hammer. Why are you calling?"

Hammer's chipper tone dropped and he cleared his throat. "Fine. I called to tell you to watch your back. I'm coming for you Anthony and I'm going to hurt you in a way that will destroy you and leave you on your knees begging me to end your suffering. A little birdie told me you finally bagged your boss. How is your booty call bitch?"

Tony felt a blinding white rage begin to consume him and he was unable to quell the raging inferno with in. "Shut up Hammer! Don't you ever, ever, EVER, refer to Pepper in that way again or I promise you I will shoot you in between the eyes then toss your body in the Dead Sea, but before I shoot you, I'd burn you of all DNA that any police would you for identification."

"You don't get to make threats Anthony! You tell her that I'm coming and I'm going to destroy you, and this time I'm not going to drug you and let you torture yourself. Yeah I know all about your nightmare; I'm the one who had you drugged in the first place. When I'm done you'll long for something as sweet as the pain you feel now." Justin threatened in a calm, low, animal voice.

Tony was struck speechless as the line went dead. "Trace complete sir. A Motel in Hell, Michigan."

"Where?" Tony asked taken aback.

"Hell, Michigan, Sir." JARVIS repeated.

"Well damn. That's exactly where he belongs, Hell. JARVIS, prepare the Mark VI. Send the location to my suit and program a route of travel."

"Preparing."

Tony began stripping of his clothes and putting on the second skin for the suit when he saw Pepper walk down the stairs. "JARVIS, lock the doors. Override the master code. Do not let Pepper in." He said in a furious tone, as thoughts of what Hammer called her replayed in his head at seeing her legs climbing down the stairs, unable to calm his fury. Tony walked over to the platform and hurriedly put on the suit. He saw from the corner of his eye, as the suit was being assembled around him, Pepper trying to unlock the door and looking up to meet his eyes. "JARVIS, another thing; do not tell Pepper anything about Hammer or where I'm going."

"Sir is that a very wise decision given the-"

Tony quickly spoke up over his Al, "Unless I'm dying or missing, do not tell her anything JARVIS. Is that clear?"

"Crystal sir."

He caught a glimpse of Pepper's worried look and whispered to himself, "I can't let her be hurt." Resolved and still furious, he pushed Pepper from his mind and focused on getting to Hammer. "JARVIS, put thirty percent of power into the thrusters. We've got ourselves a dirt bag to bag."

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**Thanks. i'll see you all later when i'm available next. If you're allowed to watch rated R movie, and you love RDJ, and you want to see some of Shane Black's work before watching Iron Man 3, i highly recommend watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. IT's an awesome movie, lot of swearing. Thanks for reading guys, please review. Let's me know i'm not the only one invested in this story, lol. **


	13. First Ones

**Hey guys thanks to those of you still reading. Hope you like this next chapter.**

**Read, enjoy,review.**

Chapter 13: The First

Pepper hadn't gone after him immediately knowing he had to cool down. And so she finished eating breakfast, wondering and worrying if Justin would be coming for her. He had, in a sense threatened her the last time they were in a room together; of course she had never told Tony. She had never though he would be released or break out, and she didn't want Tony to become overprotective. As she conversed in her mind, she cleaned up breakfast, washed the pots and pans, cleaned counters, and began to return emails. Oddly enough she had found the cleaning somewhat therapeutic. Pepper looked at the time displayed on her computer. He had been alone for almost an hour; he would be calm now. Pepper closed her laptop with a sigh and walked over to the stairs flashing back to the last time she had walked down the stairs. It was when Tony had succumbed to the nightmare. When she reached the last few stairs she looked through the glass and saw Tony slipping into the Iron Man suit skin. She entered in her code rapidly and quickly tried to push open the door only to find it still sealed.

"JARVIS unlock the door!" She said quickly.

"Mr. Stark has ordered the door to remain locked."

Pepper watched him get into the suit and she began to worry even more. She met the eyes of the mask and knew that behind them were the eyes of her damaged boyfriend about to fly off somewhere, no doubt in search of Hammer.

"JARVIS, where is Mr. Stark flying to?"

"I'm not authorized to say. Mr. Stark ha told me not to answer any questions regarding his whereabouts or anything about Justin Hammer unless he's dying or missing."

Pepper hit the door in frustration as she watched him fly off.

It was three hours later and Pepper was sitting alone on the couch with the news on hoping Tony wasn't doing something so stupid to land on the media's radar. There was still nothing on him but there had been more on Justin Hammer's escape that had frozen her in her tracks.

"_It has been previously stated that Justin Hammer had an accomplice in the event of his sudden prison break. We have now had confirmation on the identities of his two accomplices. These two people were seen with him. Emma Katherine Dyksterhouse, twenty-eight year old E.R. neurologist for the Malibu Central Hospital; and Danny Salem Fisher, thirty-two year old ex-army soldier. No connection has been made yet as to how these people are connected but we'll update you when we have more information. Back to you Adam."_

"_Thanks Michelle, and in other recent news-"_

Pepper turned off the T.V, and continued to stare on in disbelief. She had seen both of those people, even talked with one of them and thought they could be friends. She had been Tony's doctor and suddenly, Pepper began to question what had really happened to Robert. As Pepper began to think and draw connections, she had a feeling that Tony had been drugged by the man they called, Danny. He had come to fix the vents and air conditioning.

Going on a hunch she asked, "JARVIS, what was Mr. Stark doing in the minutes before he called me and passed out?"

"Mr. Stark was looking at a slideshow of pictures and drinking the remainder of his glass of scotch."

"That's it! The scotch! I bet that's what the drugs were slipped into. Everyone knows Tony has always enjoyed his scotch!" Pepper was overjoyed knowing this new piece of information; it gave her an advantage in knowing what Hammer might try.

A loud crash downstairs sent Pepper running down the stairs, abandoning every thought and everything. As she barreled down the stairs she heard an angry growl and knew Tony was back. As she tried the door again it opened and she saw her boyfriend standing behind a shattered vase.

"Tony?" She said softly. Tony whirled around at the sound of his name and Pepper noticed that as soon as his eyes met hers every trace of the anger that caused him to harm the vase, disappeared like pharaohs of old and was replaced with a very scared look. He quickly walked over to her and engulfed her in a great big hug, sighing in relief. Pepper held him, taken aback by his sudden change in mood and didn't know what to do. Tony held her in his arms and nuzzled her neck resting his head in the crook of her shoulder and neck. "Tony, what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now; I just want to enjoy this moment." He said, his underlying tone, fear.

Pepper kept her arms around him, not used to him needing her like this. They stood standing there embracing for minutes when Tony quietly spoke up, "You know that I care about you right? That I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe?"

"Where's all this-"

"Do you?" Pepper sighed and said, "Yes Tony, I know."

"Like, really, really care about you." He said lifting his head and meeting her gaze.

"I know." She replied earnestly with a confused and concerned look on her face. Tony kept one arm wrapped around Pepper and stroked her cheek with his other hand, roving over every feature of her face with his warm chocolate eyes, until he met her gaze again.

"I love you, Pepper." He saw her eyes widen then soften and they began to sparkle. He heard her breath hitch for a second then return and a smile began to appear.

"I love you too, Tony." She replied with an overwhelming feeling. Tony had actually said the words, and he had said them first and without any prompting. A few tears dropped in betrayal and a smile and laugh consumed her. Tony pulled Pepper's lips to his and gently took them in such a sweet and soft kiss, as if she were porcelain. What tony would never tell her was what he found in Michigan. A note with a promise, and pictures, that Pepper would die and that he would be forced to watch it and not be able to stop it.

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**And caution rogue robots. jk, just thought of Wall-E. But caution, next chapter, you're gonna wanna make sure you don't forget the tissuues. just in case, i had to stop writing for a bit so i wouldnt cry. But yeah. Also, if you have free time, Tropic Thunder, watch it, and honestly i cannot emphasize enough how much i love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and how excited i am for IM3 because Shane Black did and amazing job, that movie is now one of my favorites. It's so awesome and and and RDJ and sexiness and then they play the song he wrote and sang for the credits and gaaahhh! i melted. For nthose of you who are like what? He sings? Yes, he has an album out called The Futurist, came out like 03 i believe. **


	14. Words Said

**Hiya! so i couldn't make you guys wait any longer for this chapter. and first off, guys chill, i didn't realize what i said made you instantly jump to the conclusion i'm killing Pepper, i could never kill any main character, per se. So, remember, tissues just in case. Some of you you might have tear ducts of steel and be able to only just feel really sad at the end, but for those of you, you know who you, have tissues handy. **

**Read, enjoy (if you can), review. **

Chapter 14: Words Said

Six days had passed since their first, 'I love you's', and now, it seemed to Pepper as if he said it in every conversation. The first few times it had been really sweet and endearing; but now, combined with his new attitude and demeanor, he was scaring Pepper. He seemed to always be hovering. He jumped at the opportunity to accompany her at meetings; it seemed as if Tony never let her out of sight. She was finding the only alone time she got was in the bathroom and sometimes even then while she showered, it seemed like he looked for an excuse to absolutely need to get in at the same time she was. He was always asking if she needed something and Pepper was becoming annoyed. Work became near impossible. Completing an email in an hour unlike her usual five minutes became an accomplishment. Every time some new information on Hammer came through on the news she saw that Tony flinched and gravitated closer to her. When he finally would leave and go down to his workshop, he'd come up at hour intervals on the dot, not to mention he had Happy there to babysit while he was downstairs, who was not so subtly keeping an eye on her. If one more day of it went on she was going to explode. Pepper heard the steady beat of Tony's feet come walking up the stairs and rolled her eyes as she looked at the clock, eight p.m. She did a double take and raised her eyes in surprise.

'_That late already?' _She thought.

"Hey Pep, I was just coming up to grab a drink, do you need anything? Do you want something?" Pepper saw the concerned look in his eye and the soft tone of his voice and after thinking over everything her emotions bubbled up until that look made her reach the boiling point and she exploded.

She pushed the computer off her lap where it tumbled off her lap and onto the couch and stood up eyes ablaze. "Would you stop it?!" She yelled.

Tony took a step back, his eyes widening as he was taken aback. "Stop what? I was just asking a question." He said defensively, confused on where this outburst had come from.

"No you weren't! It's the same question you've been asking for the past six days every hour on the hour and I'm sick and tired of it!" She said exasperatedly and clearly annoyed.

"No I don't!" Tony defended indignantly.

Happy who was sitting on the couch beside Pepper, watching Tangled, scoffed and looked at Tony with a look that said, '_Seriously?. '_ "Yeah you do Boss."

"Nobody asked you Happy!" Tony shouted his voice rising to meet Pepper's.

"You're being overprotective and overbearing. It's getting overwhelming and really really really annoying. Ever since you flew off recklessly, while not mentally stable, to hunt and find a criminal, you became a completely different person."

"So it's a crime now to be over protective, over the one thing that matters most?"

"Yes! You're stifling me, I can't get a single moment to myself without either you or Happy, no offense,-"

"None taken." He said completely agreeing with Pepper.

"-hovering over me like a little kid that's going to get lost!"

"I'm not hover-"

"Yes you are!"

"-ing! No I'm not!"

"Yeah you are!"

"So you're saying you don't want me around?"

"Yes! No. Ugh, that's not what I'm saying!"

"So I'm just a burden?"

"That's not what-"

"If you don't want me around-"

"I'm saying that I just want-"

"-maybe we should break up!" Tony yelled angrily.

"-some alon-" Pepper stopped halfway through her sentence.

In the next second a flash of emotions went through Pepper and hit her like a sack of potatoes. Just seeing her emotion written clear on her face, penetrating his soul, Tony instantly began to move to her but Happy stepped in between and said in a very angry, low, calm, tone, "You've done enough, Tony."

"But…I…I…Pepper…I…" He stumbled trying to find the words to apologize, to tell her what'd he'd said was out of fear. Fear of losing her, of having Hammer killing her, of losing himself.

"You're living in fear Tony. You're not the same guy I've known for ten years or the man I've so quickly fallen in love with. You're a shell of him, always looking over your shoulder. Fear, Tony. You're becoming so consumed over whatever that happened that you're overcompensating; your fear of whatever is keeping me from living and it's directly affecting the company. You're holding me down by not letting me put myself out there. Maybe Justin comes, and maybe he kills me, but I'm not going to stop living and enjoying life because I'm afraid to die or because I'm too selfish that I want you with me forever or because suddenly you're afraid and you have no control. Being scared is a part of life, but when you allow it to control your life, you miss out so many moments that could have been and then you're just existing, not living. And I want to live out every single moment until I die. I know what you said wasn't out of anger but fear."

"Yes! Yes! Pepper I didn't-"

"But you still said it and it hurt more than I could have ever imagined. People only say what's in their heart and for that I'm not letting you off easily. I'm going to leave now with Happy and you're going to stay here and try to imagine the damage your words did. When I come back I'll let you know if I agree with your suggestion that we break up." She said meeting Tony's hurt expression with a cool, icy, hurt glare.

"No, Pepper, no! Please I-" but words failed him as he watched Pepper walk away with Happy by her side, his arm around her shoulder; and with each silent step of her sandals putting her further from him, Tony's heart sunk lower and lower until he hit rock bottom and fell to his knees and wept.

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***dodges flying objects and hides behind a wall (haha i'm safe back here)* Sorry, sorry guys. But hey, i cried too, while i was writing, and again while i was typing. You're not the only ones who felt it. Next chapter you will not get an answer, pre warning. I'm spreading it out. and i will not answer any questions or give hints on her answer. it could go either way. So thanks for reading. See ya next time. **


	15. Dr Phil Rhodes

**Hey everyone. Thanks for all the reviews and thanks to all my guests who reviewed. So in this chapter, no reconciliation or break ups. This one is all Tony and Rhodey. Hopefully Rhodey will be able to help.**

**Read, enjoy, review.**

Chapter 15: Dr. Phil Rhodes

Rhodey pulled open the door to the mansion like it was made of Styrofoam. He rushed into the house and didn't have to look very hard to find Tony. The sound of crying and sniffling was his marquee. Rhodey walked over to his friend and knelt beside the man curled into the side of the couch in the fetal position. A phone call from a very distressed, and sad, Pepper had changed his nightly plans from drinking with some buddies to being Tony's emotional support.

"Tony?" Said man lifted his head automatically in response to his name and Rhodey almost wanted to of her back up a little away from Tony. Tony's eyes looked bloodshot from tears, the salty water staining his face like rain on a window, his nose was Niagara Falls dripping down onto his tear and snot stained shirt. "Jesus! Let me get some tissues."

"Wha…what ar…are you…do…doing here…ma…man?" He stuttered as his chest heaved.

"Pepper called me." Rhodey said evenly. The mention of her name sent more tears pouring down his face and a sound passed through his lips that sounded like a dog whimpering over his dead mother. "Sorry." Rhodey apologized coming back over to Tony with a box of tissues in hand. "Clean yourself up man, you look like a clown threw up all over your face then rubbed it all over." He said disgusted at the sight. "I'm going to go get you a new shirt while you clean up your face." Rhodey's reply was an elephant resounding. He grimaced and walked up the stairs to Tony's bedroom. As he walked in and headed to the bureau, Rhodey tripped and nearly fell but caught himself on the desk. "Jeez, can't he ever clean his room?" Rhodey grumbled as he picked up the wooden frame and flipped it over.

Rhodey stared at the picture with a sad expression; he had to help make this right. There was no way either one of them could live without the other, not anymore anyways. Eight years ago that would have been the case, but as Rhodey looked at the picture of Tony and Pepper sitting underneath a tree, him kissing her cheek and smiling into it, Pepper's smile making the picture come to life, and just her sitting in his lap and leaning back into him, just in the way their bodies moved in sync when the other moved, Rhodey knew they were soul mates and you couldn't separate them. Rhodey tucked the picture under one arm and grabbed a shirt for Tony thinking of what Pepper had explained that had transpired and as he thought more, the angrier he became with Tony in each passing second. As he walked down the stairs he heard small sniffles and it put Rhodey over the top. He was the one who had hurt Pepper not the other way around. "Here." He said evenly not letting his voice betray him, and threw the shirt to Tony. Tony grabbed it from where it landed on his lap and took off his wet shirt and replaced it with the new. As he popped his head through, a hand sized mark stung his face. Tony looked up dumb-struck at Rhodey who looked furious. "That, is for what you said to Pepper."

"Rhodey I-"

"Shut up Stark. You don't get to talk. All I want to hear is the sound of my voice echoing through your thick, dumb witted, head, got it?"

"I-"

"What did I just say?!" Tony closed his mouth dumbfounded and sat up, puffy, red eyes staring up at his best friend. "What the hell is your problem? The most beautiful, intelligent, compassionate, woman who actually gives a shit about you, who put up with you and your playboy, childish, behavior for ten years; who was always there for you whenever you beckoned, when you never returned the favor. The one woman on this god-damned selfish planet, who loves you, and you say to her, 'maybe we should break up?'! What the hell are you thinking? What the hell has got you so damn scared you're pushing Pepper away? You don't deserve her, and even when she's hurt and crying, she calls me because she worried about leaving you alone." Rhodey thrust the picture at Tony furiously, who took the shoved item and just blankly stared at it. "Do you see that?" He asked in a softer expression. "That's how it's supposed to be. Not this mess that's happening right now. You two were made for each other, and while I'll never understand why and just how you got Pepper to fall in love with you, will forever be a mystery to me. Do you see how happy the both of you are in that picture? That's true love, Tony, and you'll never find another woman like Pepper. When she comes back you had better apologize."

"Rhodey, I didn't mean what I said. I was scared, I still am. I never wanted to hurt Pepper. She is everything to me; she's the only good thing I have." Tony said staring off into the distance as he really thought and pondered over everything Pepper was to him.

"Present company and Happy excluded of course." Rhodey interjected.

Tony had to smile but continued, "Hammer…he threatened…promised, to take Pepper from me and I guess…I was just shaken to my core. I used to be stronger than this. Something like this would have bothered me but I wouldn't be this mess. What happened to me?" Tony asked earnestly, sounding lost and confused and turned to Rhodey for guidance.

"You broke." Rhodey replied simply. "We all have our limits and the combination of this fear you have, and Hammer, and all the drugs in your system, messed up your head. Crying isn't a sign of weakness you know. It's a sign of having tried too hard to be strong for too long. Life is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs, but it's your choice to scream or enjoy the ride. Anyone can give up Tony; it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."

"When did you become so full of wisdom Dr. Phil?" Tony asked with a sniffle. Rhodey just gave him a small smile. "I can't live another day without Pepper in my life Rhodey. And the fact that Hammer can get to her and take her from me is unbearable."

"Why are you telling me all this? Pepper is the one who you should be telling this to."

"I-"

"Don't wait for her to come to you. You need to go after her. But first, maybe eat something and take a ten minute power nap. You really do look absolutely revolting. I'd hate for Pepper to see you like this." Tony shook his head with a slight smile. "I'm just letting you know. As your friend it is my job to make sure you don't look completely disastrous when trying to fix your relationship. I'm out now. Gonna go drink off all this psycho, shrink, babble stuff, with some Air Force buddies."

"Thank you, Rhodey." Tony said softly and sincerely meeting his best friend's eyes.

Rhodey nodded and said, "Just fulfilling my duties as your best friend." He saluted Tony with two fingers and left Tony alone again. For a few minutes Tony remained sitting with his back against the side of the couch and stared into the dark kitchen as he tried thinking of how he would apologize to Pepper.

"JARVIS, would you locate Ms. Potts please." Tony said pensively.

"Staring trace on Ms. Potts' cell phone." The Al responded.

"Ms. Potts is right behind you." Echoed Pepper's voice as Tony turned to his right and looked completely taken off guard and suddenly unsure of what to say. "And she's decided what the future holds for our relationship." Pepper said evenly with her arms crossed and her gaze deciding whether or not to look softened or hardened.

"Pepper." Tony breathed out in a pleasantly surprised whisper as his mind began to race and process that Pepper was standing in front of him.

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**Sorry i couldn't give this to you guys yesterday. I fell down the stairs and my arm got caught in the railing and while it stopped me from landing on the tile floor on my face and doing any other hospital fixable damage, it nearly dislocated my shoulder so my arm still hurts while i type this but it's also numb so now was the best time. Next chapter we have the result of this impending break up and whether or not it'll happen. Sound off in the reviews on what you think might happen. Thanks for reading guys. Also if you're ever bored, feel free to p.m. me. I love talking to you guys. **


	16. Decisons

**Hey readers so guess what, my arm is healed and i am happy to present you with this next chapter. I'm sorry i couldn't update at all last week. A week just seems like too long to wait for this, but now we have this chapter that will decide the future for Pepperony. So put your bets on the table and read on. I will try to get you the next chapter very shortly along with a Christmas one shot i'm doing called Christmas Cookies. It's Pepperony fluff. I'm very excited. I'll see you guys tomorrow with the one shot, maybe Christmas with the next chapter of this as my Christmas present to you all. However if i don't see you i'm still gonna say Merry Christmas and for those of you who don't do Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all. **

Chapter 16: Decisions

**Previously on Fear**

"**Ms. Potts is right behind you." Echoed Pepper's voice as Tony turned to his right and looked completely taken off guard and suddenly unsure of what to say. "And she's decided what the future holds for our relationship." Pepper said evenly with her arms crossed and her gaze deciding whether or not to look softened or hardened. **

"**Pepper." Tony breathed out in a pleasantly surprised whisper as his mind began to race and process that Pepper was standing in front of him. **

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Tony picked himself up off the floor and ran to Pepper crushing her in a hug. He nuzzled her neck with his head, a small smile on his face as he found comfort, happy to be holding her in his arms. A second later he was pushed away and the smile on his face dissolved and one of confusion came to be.

"Don't think-" Pepper began angrily but was immediately cut off by Tony.

"Shut up." He said holding her outstretched with his arms. Pepper gave him a mock laugh of disbelief in reply, looking at him as though he had just said she was a prostitute.

"Excuse me?" She asked incredulously.

"Gah uh sorry, wrong choice of words." He said smacking his head as he thought just how offended she might be considering he was part of the reason they were in this mess.

"Yeah that seems to be the theme for today with you." She said stepping back and folding her arms as her lips pursed in a tight line, eyes simmering with anger but deeper pain.

Tony stepped forward and as he began to speak, began fidgeting with his hands nervously. "Pepper, you can't leave. I don't want you leave; not now, not ever. I didn't mean any of what I said earlier, you have to know that. You're the one joy in my life Pepper, my sunshine. You are a part of my heart and soul. Life without you is like…a pencil without a point, pointless. And I like it when you smile, it always warms my heart and makes me smile, but I love it when I'm the reason why you're smiling. I want to always be the reason why you're smiling, why your eyes light up and glow, why you're happy, and I never want to be the reason why you're crying. And when I first met you Pepper Potts, I never would have imagined that I would have such strong feelings for you. I never would have thought that I would have dreams about you or miss being by your side or get butterflies in my stomach when someone mentions your name. When I first met you, I never would have thought that I would love you like I do now. I wish I could explain to you how I feel, because every night before I go to sleep, you're all I think about. The words you said, the way you looked, the things we laughed about, the silent moments we shared. I never want to live in a world where you're not by my side 24/7. And if that meant giving up being Iron Man, losing everything I own; I'd be perfectly happy because all I need is you." Tony said inching ever so closely to her until their bodies were almost touching, the tone of his voice so sweet and sincere that he began to creep his way back into her heart and make it warm up again.

"That last part is total B.S. You wouldn't survive a week without JARVIS." She said trying to not let it show just how deeply his words touched her and how they had begun to heal her previous wound.

Tony smiled softly and said, "This is true." He paused for a moment and looked into her eyes searching for some sign that she could forgive him and not leave him. "I'm so sorry Pepper." He whispered, his own eyes mimicking the way hers had looked when he hurt her. "You have to understand that I was trying to protect you. When I left to go find Hammer in Hell, I went to kill him." Pepper raised her eyebrow in a curious, confused manner at the mention of the words, Hell. "Yes that is actually a real place, it's in Michigan. That's where JARVIS had traced him back to; but what I found when I reached the motel room wasn't Hammer. I found pictures of you, vulnerable, alone, scattered all across the floor and on the bed was a note in his hand writing." Tony's jaw clenched as he recalled the words and recited them to Pepper. "_I can get to her anywhere at any time. I'll take her from you like you took everything from me and I promise you I will kill her.'_ I guess that's when I flipped and you're right Pepper; I have been living in fear. Because I can't bear the thought of that monster ripping you away from me. I love you terribly Pepper Potts and you're death would be the end of me. Please Pepper…" He said his voice beginning to crack and finish off just above an audible whisper, "please don't leave me now, I love you too much."

Though his speech wasn't eloquent, it was filled with heart-felt sentiment and it was enough to bring Pepper to tears. Tony didn't notice when, but Pepper had tears openly trickling down her cheeks. She laughed as she cried and Tony looked at her confusedly. "Is that a yes or a no?" He said confused and nervously.

Pepper closed the remaining gap between them until her face was mere inches away from his and whispered, "You tell me." Her arms wrapped around his neck, her hands tangling themselves into his hair as she kissed him passionately and deepened the kiss.

"Thank you Pepper." He whispered happily in between a flurry of chaste kisses.

She smiled as they kissed and said in between their kisses, "You…look…terrible. Was there…a clown…here…or something?" Tony pulled away from her but she pulled him back with a smile and said, "I never said I wanted you to stop kissing me."

"You're an amazing woman Pepper." He said with a soft, adoring, smile.

"Don't I know it." She retorted and grabbed his face to pull it back to hers.

Tony smiled widely and kissed her snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her towards the couch where they fell in a heap on top of each other in a tangle of limbs laughing joyously and kissing like there was no tomorrow.

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**Thanks for reading guys. Much appreciated and reviews are like cookies to me. Enjoyable and treasured. lol. I'll see you tommorrow on Christmas Eve! :D**


	17. Pepper Isle

**Merry Christmas! As said i have this next chapter here with me to give to you all today. I hope you all had/ are having a wonderful Christmas. I know i certainly am (So many Avengers gifts and RDJ). Alright i'll let you guys go.**

**Read, enjoy, review!**

Chapter 17: Pepper Isle

The next day as Pepper worked from the house, she noticed a change in Tony's behavior. He was still scared and over protective, but he also had made an effort to not come up and constantly check on her for nearly an hour and a half. Pepper breathed in a deep breath, filling her lungs with the air blowing through the open window. The air was crisp and cool as it should have been for a fall day. She was about to close her computer and get up to make a sandwich when a ding told her she had a new email.

"Bozhe moi." She said with a roll of her eyes knowing she had been around Natalie, now Natasha, too long. Pepper quickly roved over the email and smacked a palm to her face. "Holy chocolate starfish…Batman! JARVIS, can you put in Mr. Stark's calendar a reminder for the Adopt-A-Child Fundraiser dinner this Friday." She said exasperated. With everything that had been going on with Tony she had completely forgotten about the Fundraiser dinner that they had already signed up for and said they would be there."

"A reminder has been set; would you like me to tell Mr. Stark about it now?"

"Um…no I'll do it. I have to talk about some other things as well."

"Mr. Stark, is currently asking for you."

"Tell him I'll be down there to see him in five minutes please JARVIS."

"Right away Ms. Potts."

Pepper set her computer aside and walked and walked to the kitchen, quickly making a peanut butter, nutella, and fluff sandwich for Tony who would push it away saying he wasn't hungry then eat it when she left; and Peanut butter and blackberry jelly for herself. As she made her way into the workshop she found Tony mindlessly working with the helmet of one of suits. She could never tell what the difference was between any of them even though Tony stressed the importance of knowing each one's strength and weaknesses, God forbid, if she ever had to use one. She set the plate down on the table along with a large glass of milk, the man drank like an elephant, but noticed Tony didn't move to address her. Raising an eyebrow she shook his shoulder and he jumped out of his chair and fell backwards. Pepper also jumped a little as he jumped and laughed at the both of them.

"Jesus Pepper." He said getting up from the floor and sitting back in his chair.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd freak out when I tapped your shoulder."

"Yeah well I did. What's up?" He asked.

"You wanted me down here." She said skeptically.

"Oh that's right." He said excitedly, his mind jump started into memory. "I wanted to give you something." Tony took a folded up piece of paper from his desk and handed it to her.

"A piece of paper…gee thanks." She said sarcastically.

"Try opening it." He said with a smirk.

"I don't understand. What is this supposed to be a picture of? All I see is some island that looks like only ship wrecked people could find and would live on." She said confusedly.

Tony smirked again and laughed. "That my dear Pepper is your other anniversary present. Took a while for all the paperwork to go through but it is now officially Pepper Isle. It's seventy-five miles off the coast of Dubai." Pepper opened and closed her mouth multiple times trying to form a coherent sentence of thanks. "It's also a part of my apology." He said sheepishly.

"Tony…I…"

"Don't know what to say? I can see that." He smirked. "There is a fully functional house, well not fully, JARVIS isn't installed and there is no security but it's really nice, small, cozy, just the way you like it."

"No JARVIS. I don't want JARVIS in the house."

"Why not? He'll be able to secure-"

"Tony." She said softly.

He sighed and relented. "Fine, fine, no JARVIS. I figured if we packed now we can be wheels up in a few hours and breaking in the new bed sheets by five." Tony said with a smile.

"We can't go today." Pepper said really not wanting to have to say no to the man who had just bought her an island as a one month anniversary gift and an apology.

"What? Why not? Pepper this is a good opportunity for us to do a little R&R, heal, re-charge."

"I know, I know and I feel awful having to say no, but we have a fundraiser to go to on Friday evening and I already RSVP'd six months ago saying we would both be in attendance."

"It's Wednesday, Pep. We can leave today and come back on Friday afternoon in time for that thing. We need this Pepper." He said stressing need.

Pepper smiled weakly, wanting to just run away with Tony to the tropics and do a little re-connecting. "Tony." She said softly.

"Come on Pep…please?" He begged with his eyes and quivering lip.

"I'll make you a deal. If you can get through the entire fundraiser without sneaking out or causing trouble or making fun of any of the people there, I'll run away with you to our island for however long you'd like."

Tony grinned and said mischeviously, "However long I'd like?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and smiled. "You can't keep me there forever Tony."

"Ah but you just said any length of time."

"Fine, I meant no more than two weeks. I was hoping you'd say something reasonable." Pepper replied with a role of her eyes.

"I'll never be sensible or reasonable when it comes to you Potts." Tony said with an adoring smile and pulled her to him for a sweet kiss. "I'll agree to your deal…only if we're away for a month." He said grinning.

"A month?! Tony-"

"Take it or leave it Potts. Do you want me at that Fundraiser or not? Tick tock." He interjected tauntingly.

Pepper thought it over for a minute and ground out, "Fine, a month."

Tony grinned and kissed her again. "Prepare for a month long get away Potts, because I'm about to blow your mind at this Fundraiser."

"I'll believe it when I see it." She smirked and placed a lingering kiss on his lips before pulling away and turning around to walk back upstairs with a smile on her face and an extra bounce in her step.

Tony watched her leave with a grin and looked to the sandwich sitting tauntingly on his desk. "Hello delicious." He said taking a bite from it as soon as he saw Pepper was out of sight. He was really looking forward to this month long trip with Pepper.

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**Alrighty guys so i'll see you hopefully before the new year. So please leave me a present and review. **


	18. The Nefarious Plan

**Heeeyyy guys...sooo i don't really have much to say except for sorry its so short.**

Chapter 18: The Nefarious Plan

Danny pulled his hood over his head so it hung over his face and slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses to shield curious eyes from his features that would positively I.D. him as an accomplice of Justin Hammer. He pressed a handle bar moustache to his upper lip and wiggled his mouth in discomfort. The tape was itchy. His once brunette hair now a fiery red could be seen coming out of the hoodie. Danny carefully put in a pair of brown contacts to change his once memorable emerald eyes to a common brown. He also had a passport, license, library card, and Walgreens gift card that Hammer had paid for that would positively I.D. him as thirty-four year old Charles Finley, who went by the nickname Chuck. Apparently he was a computer analyst for Verizon and had a wife, Kimberly and two sons, Jacob and Carlton. Jake was nine and Lassie was six. Danny looked himself over in a mirror and walked out of the crappy motel bathroom, grabbing a pair of keys and heading outside where a car was parked (stolen of course); so he made sure to drive carefully but knew sometimes that wasn't enough.

As Danny drove in the mountains of Nevada towards the closest gas stations he repeatedly went over the plan for kidnapping the woman Hammer referred to as Pepper, from the fundraiser on Friday. Emma would be inside as a guest, while he would be inside as waiter. That would allow them both to have eyes on their target. Hammer would be waiting in the old abandoned saw mill he and Emma had previously scouted and equipped with everything they would need. Emma would follow Pepper to the bathroom the first chance she got then inject Pepper with a dose of Thorazine she had previously gotten from the hospital. Once Pepper was hazy, Emma would then call him and they would 'help' Pepper get outside for some air where he would have their car parked and get out before Stark got suspicious and went looking for her. Their plan was as perfect as it could get. They'd switch cars halfway there and go around in circles to throw off the cops when they would inevitably come looking.

A vibrating object took him from his thoughts and he dug through his hoodie pocket, keeping a hand on the wheel and flitting his eyes back and forth from the road to his pocket until he pulled out his phone and answered, "Yeah Boss?...I'm on my way to some convenience store to pick up some halfway decent food." He rolled his eyes at Hammer's response and answered, "I'll be back in an hour, then we can eat and by then it should be about seven so we can sleep a couple hours then take off and make it to Malibu for early morning…yeah see you soon." He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket and focused on driving and finding some gas station in this god-forsaken mountain.

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**Come on guys did you really expect to have that much fluff in a row? A one month vacation, ha, some of you know me so well you totally guessed this was gonna happen (TonyStarkJr). Soooo i'll see you guys later...yeah.**


	19. Calm before the Storm

**Hello all, so are you guys getting the emails saying that this story has been updated? Anyways, i know a bunch of you are on vacation so i'm gonna let the reviews for last chapter slide. This chapter is exactly what the title says. HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!**

**Read, enjoy, review!**

Chapter 19: Calm before the Storm

Tony strutted into the living room of his enormous home, donned in stains, smudges, oil, and grease along with a few minor cuts on his hands and arms, with a smile on his face feeling more like himself than he had in the past two days. Maybe it was the fact that two days ago Pepper had signed off on leaving with him for a month, or maybe he was just excited to see Pepper all dressed up again like he had nearly a year and a half ago on that fateful night. Whatever the reason, he was just thrilled to be able to drop off the grid, get away from danger, and have fun with Pepper. Tony spotted his favorite head of fire and walked over to where she sat watching T.V. and plopped down on the couch throwing his arm around her shoulder and drawing her closer so she was practically sitting on his lap.

"Gross." She said wrinkling her nose and looking him over in disgust but not moving away from him. "You're all sticky and greasy, go. Change first before coming to try and spoon with me."

"Ouch." He said playfully, his smirk suggesting he was amused.

"Oh please." She muttered turning back to the T.V.

"Watcha watchin'?" he asked.

Pepper shivered and said, "David Boreanaz in all his sexiness." Realizing what she had blurted without thinking cleared her throat and said, "An episode of Angel. Season four episodes three to be exact. It's called, 'The House Always Wins'." She said captivated by the T.V.

"Pssh David Boreanaz," Tony said puffing out his chest. "I'm so much better."

"Of course you are Sweetie." Pepper said patronizingly patting his dirtied chest with a smirk knowing he was jealous.

Tony huffed and puffed out his chest indignantly grumbling, "Please I bet he wouldn't even have the slightest clue how to run JARVIS; he'd shit his pants if he saw me. He'd drop to his knees and bow in awe."

"I'm sorry did you say something? Once he starts talking well…brr…I get goosebumps and shivers." Pepper said playfully with a teasing smile Tony couldn't see. Tony grumbled some more and Pepper just grinned knowing he was getting increasingly jealous. She turned her attention back to the screen and cuddeled into Tony.

"_Fluffy! Fluffy, the dog? The dog you don't have? The universally recognized code for I'm being held prisoner, send help?"_

"_Oh…okay. I'm hip now."_

"Hey that's not a bad idea." Tony perked up shifting so he was sitting up straight.

"What?"

"The distress signal. We should have one. I'm always in a threat of danger, but you, now that Hammer's loose what if he gets to you? We need a code phrase or word so if anything ever happens like whatever happened to that green, evil looking, demony looking-"

"Not an evil demon." Pepper interjected quickly.

"What?" Tony asked confused.

"He's not an evil demon. His name is Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, in the demonic dimension of Pylea. He however prefers to be called Lorne. His clan is very violent but he hates violence so he came to Earth through a portal and the brown haired girl you just saw swapped places with him and got stuck in Pylea, but that's a much longer story. Anyway, in this season he's helping Angel Investigations with Gunn, Fred, and Angel. Cordelia their friend and Angel's love interest is stuck in a higher dimension, she's blond. Angel's son Connor isn't around again quite yet. Wesley, their old friend betrayed them and stole Angel's son Connor because of a false prophecy that said, 'the father will kill the son' but that is total B.S. because Angel loved that boy more than anything along with Cordy, they all did. Anyways, so he's gone and starts sleeping with an enemy from the evil Lawyer firm, Wolfram and Hart, Lila. He did however find Angel when he was at the bottom of the ocean for three months when his son and this evil girl slash lover of Holtz, Justine stuck him there, so I began to forgive him. Anyways back to Lorne, he does aura-reading, telepathy, empathy, lie detecting, and precognition super human hearing, also he can sing beautifully. Andy Hallet is pretty awesome." Pepper said taking a big intake of air from her very long ramble explanation of Angel while Tony just stared at her with an eyebrow raised and his mouth hanging open.

"Yeah okay, you're obsessed. Anyways, we need something."

"Why don't we just use Fluffy?" She asked questioningly.

"Because we need one that's ours." Tony explained his mind already running through a list of phrases or words they could use.

"What if we use the phrase, 'I'm up on the roof getting air.'" Pepper suggested knowing that this phrase would be significant to the both of them.

Tony gave her a half smile and laugh. "If Hammer is involved use the word Fluffy."

"He's not going to be able to get to me Tony. They've done extensive background checks on everyone who will be there and there will be the undercover cops and security cameras. Plus I'll have my own superhero there to protect me." She said kissing his cheek with a smile. Tony smiled sweetly at her but something in his gut told him something did not feel right about the fundraiser that night.

"It's three thirty by the way. The dinner is at seven."

"Believe me I'm well aware of the time. Besides, this is almost done. There's like fifteen minutes left. Then I'll be taking a shower and leaving and I'll meet you outside of Rhodey's apartment."

"I still don't understand why he gets to see you before I do."

"Because you have to get ready and I know you'll try and distract us both if I'm here. Besides, I have a hair and makeup appointment for four twenty with Stacy across town which is only six miles from Rhodey as opposed to the twenty-one from here. Then Rhodey is picking me up around five-forty five. My dress and jewelry is already at his apartment so he can help me do all the finishing touches and then I should be ready by six forty, six forty-five ish when you should be arriving."

"I don't do well with schedules and times."

"I know, that's why JARVIS and Happy will be here to keep you in-line, now hush, I want to watch this part. Cordelia is going to help them."

"You're obsessed with this show, you need help."

"Oh please you're obsessed with working in your workshop, you need help."

"Touché Ms. Potts, touché."

"Besides, this is what real vampires look like, not Robert Pattinson or whatever his name is." Pepper said in disgust transferring her attention back to David Boreanaz.

Tony just shook his head with a smile and kissed her head as he held her close.

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**Yes, i am a fan of Angel, no i did not have to use Google to know all this, sad, but very true and i'm even more of an expert on Smallville and Psych, especially Psych. Next chapter, well, the next few chapters, prepare yourselves for injections, heart ache, explosions, hospitals, and...death. Yes death. See you guys around.**


	20. Taken

**Hi everyone, i apologize for the long wait, but in return you got a long chapter. Plus when you have a hybrid sickness(flu-cold) you tend to get exhausted fairly easily. Plus it's been a very emotional week. But i set aside hw, took friday off from school and finally finished writing this. So i do hope you like it. Took alot of effort and energy to push this bad boy out. **

**Read, enjoy, Review. And thanks to those of you who do review. **

Chapter 20: Taken

Rhodey sat in the black leather chair outside of his bedroom looking constantly to his gold, Rolex, watch (a gift from Tony) and back to the T.V, to watch his secret obsession that only Pepper knew about, Pretty Little Liars. It was a repeat that he had seen ten times, so he wasn't really fixated on it. "Pepper are you almost done?"

"Yeah, I just need you to tie." She called out from behind the closed door.

"Do I have to? Tony is going to go all Arnold Schwarzenegger from 'True Lies' on me and over-react." He said already getting the mental image.

He heard Pepper laugh through the door and then it opened and Rhodey felt compelled to stand up, looking at her awestruck. "Very true my War Machine." Pepper said with a smile that accentuated her beauty.

Rhodey had never thought of Pepper romantically, more a twin sister. Now though, he was pretty sure he was pushing sister with the way he was staring at her; unable to look away and Rhodey knew Tony was going to have a hard time being ground control and bouncer for all the men that would be in attendance.

"Well what do you think?" Pepper asked nervously smoothing down her dress again. Rhodey lifted a hand as he opened his mouth but no words came and he looked over her again before answering.

Her strawberry curls cascading around her face, some resting on her shoulders and others covering some of her chest from wandering eyes. She was wearing rhinestone, chandelier earrings, a sparkly neutral color eye shadow, black eyeliner, mascara, and pink lipstick. She wore a strapless, black satin, sparkly dress that opened and tied criss- cross in the back and closed back up again just above her hips and flowed openly at the bottom stopping halfway down her shiny, black stilettos. The dress allowed for a proportionate amount of cleavage to be seen. Rhodey repeatedly said in his head, '_Don't look down, and maintain eye contact_.' He stammered and finally said uncensored, "You look drop dread, heart breakingly, gorgeous, Pepper. I can't wait to see Tony's face."

Pepper smiled and her heart fluttered and she kissed Rhodey's cheek in gratitude. "Thank you." She said sincerely. Her tone changed into the playful one she was used to and said, "Now make yourself useful and tie." She turned her back to Rhodey for him to tie the various pieces of cloth.

"He really does love you ya know." Rhodey piped up as he was working on tying off the second one. "He just shows it in a very Tony way."

"Like buying an island." Pepper said with a smile.

"Exactly. He won't always just come out and say it because that's not who he is, but he does love you." Rhodey finished off tying the third and final tie and asked, "Too tight?"

"No it's perfect. And I know he loves me; it's just that sometimes I wish he was like a normal boyfriend, but then I think that if he was normal then I wouldn't love him, and that helps get through the difficult times." Pepper said pensively.

The doorbell interrupted their moment and Rhodey chuckled saying, "Speak of the Devil." He glanced to his watch and added, "And late as always, what's new?" He walked to the door and opened the door an inch asking, "What's the password?"

"What are you five?"

"No I'm pretty sure that's not it." Rhodey said in mock pensiveness.

"Would you just let me in?" Tony said quickly becoming annoyed.

"That's not it either."

"Rhodey!" Tony cried exasperatedly.

"You're horrible at this game." Rhodey said with a laugh.

Tony muscled his way in the door grumbling about Rhodey's childish behavior and stopped in his tracks, mid-step as his eyes found Pepper. "Holy…you look beautiful Pep." More butterflies tumbled in her stomach and a smile graced her lips.

"Thanks." Pepper replied admiring the eye candy in front of her. Black suit, red shirt, gold tie, black pants, and (of course) Iron Man sneakers. His hair combed up in the middle and parted off on the sides. "You look very, very handsome."

Tony grinned and pulled at the lapels of his jacket playfully, "Oh well you know, more than usual." Pepper rolled her eyes and walked over to Tony taking his arm.

"Have fun you two and behave. I'll see you in a month!" Rhodey called out after the pair as they walked away. He quickly closed his door and ran over to his chair plopping down and pressing play on the remote with a smile. "Alright, now I can finally watch this whole baby situation with Melissa."

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He thought he was going to die. An hour and a half in and already he wanted to jump off the balcony. '_I could always test the new suit.' _Tony thought but quickly dismissed it. He really wanted to disappear for a month alone with Pepper, on a warm sunny island, with palm trees swaying in the cool evening breeze, and no cameras or curious eyes able to find or disturb them. No cell phones, no internet, no connection, most importantly no Iron Man. Just them…and JARVIS. Of course he'd never admit that to Pepper. He had to have T.V, there was no way he'd survive if he couldn't just stay in bed for thirty days; so naturally JARVIS was going to be his T.V because having someone find out about their secret island to install cable was not going to happen, that was non-negotiable. JARVIS was also going to be bouncing around their signal keeping them un-traceable, and thus off grid. Tony was taken from his thoughts as Pepper walked up to him arm in arm with an older man. '_He has to be older than Johnny Crockett'_ Tony thought with a smirk about to voice his opinion to Pepper when he remembered he couldn't. The man was wearing a tailored black suit, crisp white shirt and a navy blue tie (that Tony recognized as Egyptian Silk), and his snow white wispy hair was in no order.

"Mr. Caldwell, I'd like for you to meet-"

"Tony Stark." He said in awe in a voice that Tony had to bite his tongue not to laugh outright in the man's face. The man sounded as if he had been playing with Helium. Tony swallowed his comments and shook the outstretched hand of the Helium man, switching his scotch into his left hand. "I'm Jim Caldwell. It's an honor to meet you in person Mr. Stark. Your work with the technology on the Iron Man suit is un-paralleled. It's extraordinary really. I'd love to talk with you sometime about it."

Tony was sure of two things; one- If this man kept talking he'd burst and start laughing till his sides ached and two- Pepper had purposely brought this man over to test him. "It's nice to meet you Jim. I'll make a date with my CEO here and we'll talk."

"Great, she has my information. It really was quite an honor to meet you Mr. Stark."

"Thank you, you too." The man left and Tony began to laugh, he couldn't _not _laugh but he was smart enough to not say anything out loud even if that took away the fun.

"Something funny Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, very funny." He replied with a wide grin.

"Care to share?" She tempted with an innocent look.

"Hell no." He retorted sipping his scotch. "Isn't there some rule that says you can't play dirty?" He asked with a playful smile.

"I thought you liked it when I play dirty." She replied with a sexy smile. Tony cleared his throat and rephrased his question.

"I thought there was a rule that said you couldn't try to make me lose." He rephrased with a grin.

"If I'm going away with you for a month, I'm going to make you work for it. He was just the opening act." Pepper smiled with a mischievous sparkle in her eye as Tony's jaw dropped open.

"Opening act? It took every ounce for me to not laugh while he was here and say something."

"Better step up your game then Mr. Stark if you really intend to whisk me away from the world." She said placing a chaste kiss on his lips, then walked away with a smile to a group in the middle of the room by the bar. Tony took in the image given to him as she walked away and a determined smile appeared on his lips; he was getting Pepper alone on that island, one hundred percent, there was no doubt about it and no room for negotiation.

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_Half an hour later._

Tony leaned up against the bar counter waiting for the bar tender to hand him a refilled glass of scotch (for him) and an Apple Martini (for Pepper), when he was hit with a sudden déjà vu as his worst mistake came walking up to him.

"Tony, fancy seeing you here."

"Why are you here Christine? Last I checked I wasn't due to make your radar until I did something amazing with Iron Man which isn't scheduled until next Tuesday." He said annoyed.

"Oh so you do remember my name."

"Not by choice." He said disgustedly. "Pepper keeps reminding me."

"Oh, so she isn't just your latest bed mate you haven't gotten bored with yet." Every bone in Tony's body told him to rebel, to put Christine in her place and defend his girlfriend's honor but he had promised to not make a scene and get in trouble, however that also didn't mean he couldn't play the game.

"I know this may be hard for you to believe, but I'm not who I was. Pepper isn't another itch to be scratched like you were. She means something to me, something more. And I know you don't understand that, but get this; Pepper is here to stay if she'll put up with me, because she isn't just some other woman, she's the woman I love. So in the words of Taylor Swift, 'We are never ever _ever _getting back together.' Christine." Tony said smugly and sincerely.

"Here is your drinks sir." The bar keep interrupted sliding two glasses to Tony. Tony grabbed the drinks and thanked the bar tender while glaring at Christine and never broke eye contact until he walked away and over to Pepper, a smile appearing on his lips as soon as he saw her. She was laughing with one of the women from Gossip Girl. He had never watched it but recognized her, Pepper loved the show. She was pretty and had it been two years ago he probably would have taken her home while shamelessly hitting on her. She had long dirty blond hair and blue-grey eyes. A strapless, red cotton, knee length dress courted her body, but compared to Pepper he thought she was insignificant. He walked up to them and handed Pepper her drink then wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.

"Aww, Blake that's so sweet. I can't believe Ryan did that. You know…speaking of sweet things out special someone's did; Tony here just bought me an island, and if he behaves here tonight that's where we'll be come tomorrow morning." Pepper said glancing from Blake to Tony and back again.

"Aww, that is sweet. You got lucky Pepper, to have been able to get him to settle down some."

Pepper and Tony both laughed at this and Pepper replied, "Far from it actually." She took a sip of her drink and welcomed the sweet burn and turned to hand Tony her drink. "Can you hold this please, I'll be right back. I need to go to the bathroom."

Tony took her drink but stopped her before she could leave and whispered in her ear, "You look gorgeous tonight Pep."

Pepper smirked and went to move but Tony blocked her and whispered, "I love you beautiful. I'm glad you're here with me and not anyone else here."

"I'm not going anywhere Tony, I'll be back in a minute, but I love you too." She replied back in a whisper kissing his cheek. Tony beamed a smile at her and finally let her leave, clutch purse in hand and was momentarily distracted by the sway of her hips. His focus was broken when he remembered he had been talking to someone.

"Sorry. So uh Blake, quick question for you." He said.

"Shoot." She replied curiously.

"Who do you think is sexier, David Boreanaz or me?" He asked seriously.

"Oh definitely you." She replied quickly.

"Thank you!" Tony cried exasperatedly.

"David has the whole good vampire-F.B.I. Agent thing going for, but you, well you have Iron Man- billionaire-genius going for you. That's a hands down winner. Plus the scruff adds to the chick appeal." Tony grinned, already beginning to love Blake.

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Pepper walked down the halls of the large conference center aimlessly searching for a bathroom. The previous two she had found had been, 'closed due to maintenance.' After another two minutes she finally found one, two floors down from the dinner. As she walked out of the stall and up to the mirror to wash her hands and re-apply her makeup a hand flashed in front of her and suddenly a cloth was on her mouth. Pepper wound up her elbows and thrust it at her assailant's chest like she had seen done before so many times on T.V. The hand wavered and Pepper ducked out of the way facing her attacker.

"Emma?" She said in the moment of shock and confusion until a realization dawned on her of who this woman was associated with. "Oh god. Hammer's here." She breathed above a whisper, her brain and feet suddenly frozen in their respective places unable to move.

Emma quickly whipped out her cell, pressed a button, and said, "I need you pronto." A second later Danny Fisher came through the open entrance and beside Emma.

"We don't want to hurt you Ms. Potts but if you don't come quietly we'll have no choice and that won't be very much fun for any of us." Danny said in a calm yet threatening false caring tone. Pepper swallowed hard trying to think of a way to escape and get to Tony, to warn him.

That's when the light bulb went off and she said in the best defeated, helpless tone she could muster, "Alright, I'll go; but I need to call Tony. If I'm gone and out of his sight for more than ten minutes he'll set off every alarm and lock this place down."

Danny grinned and said, "You're bluffing."

"Look, I'm not joking here. Ever since your display in Michigan he's been crazy paranoid. He will lock this place down. Please just let me call him, it'll be a lot easier. If you don't like anything I say you can shoot me with that gun you have on your ankle Mr. Fisher." Danny shifted uncomfortably. He had told no one about his back up and he knew it was well hidden. "My dad was F.B.I.; I know where all you military types keep your back-ups." She said trying to persuade him with an innocent look in her eye and appealing to his wanting control over the situation by acting scared and helpless.

Danny was silent another moment and Emma looked to him and shot a message that he interpreted as, 'w_e can't afford any more trouble, let her dis-arm him.'_

"Fine." Danny growled not liking the situation. "Make it quick."

Pepper nodded and pulled out her phone, and quickly, expertly, dialed Tony's number while keeping her eyes on Mr. Fisher and Emma.

"Put it on speaker." Danny said.

Pepper relented and held out the phone so they could hear. He picked up on the first ring, "Pepper? Is everything alright?" Pepper heard his voice quickly become on edge and she spoke back into the receiver calmly.

"Yeah yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to let you know I'll be gone a bit longer. I didn't want you to freak out and over react because I was out of your sight for longer than you'd like. I bumped into Ryan and we're up on the balcony talking, with his dog fluffy. He's adorable. I'll see you soon. I love you Tony, bye." She quickly hung up her phone and when she looked into the eyes of her kidnapers she watched Emma walk up to her with the same piece of cloth in her hand and pressed it back onto her face, covering her mouth and nose, and this time without Pepper's resilience.

Within seconds the drug had taken its effect and Pepper dropped her purse and began to collapse when two sets of arms caught her. "Emma get her purse, we can't leave anything behind." Danny said holding up Pepper as Emma bent down and snatched up Pepper's purse. She wrapped an arm around Pepper's waist and put one of Pepper's arms around her neck like Danny had done, and they walked out of the bathroom, rushing. They looked like a concerned friend and somebody who had been around to help. They saw a group of people in uniform come rushing toward them and they began to sweat thinking they had been discovered until the boys in blue ran right past not paying any attention to the trio. That's when Danny thought to himself, '_That bitch tipped off her boyfriend. Shit.' _

"We need to hurry Emma, she tipped off Stark."

"What?! How?" Emma asked incredulously.

"They had a distress signal." He said bitterly. "I'll explain later, we need to high tail it _now_." Danny stressed. Emma nodded in response. Together they sped up and made it to the car where they placed Pepper in the back (who responded with a moan) and took off, making sure to only go five over the speed limit.

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Tony's heart practically stopped. He wanted to say 'I love you too', but his mouth wouldn't work, his whole body shut down for a second as an initial reaction. His face paled so much Blake began to shake his shoulder when his stare was blank and he didn't respond to his name. That's when something in Tony snapped and he left Blake, quickly walked over to the microphone and ordered the D.J. to stop.

"Everyone listen carefully. Pepper Potts has just been taken by Justin Hammer less than a minute ago. We need to lock down every exit and send a team to every bathroom to look for something that could possibly help locate her."

As soon as he stepped down from the mic cops started barking orders into their hidden earpieces and radios. Tony broke into a sprint for the stairs unable to handle taking an elevator up two floors and not be able to burn his nervous energy. Once he reached the roof he quickly slipped on his metal bracelets and slipped in a Bluetooth.

"JARVIS, you there?"

"Online and ready sir."

"Deploy the Mark VII to my current location immediately."

"Sir Terabytes of calculati-"

"JARVIS NOW!" Tony ordered his Al.

"Suit deployed. Estimated time of arrival, one minute and counting."

Tony began the countdown in his head while simultaneously looking over the edge of the building and calculating how long he could fall before he hit land. Once his mental countdown reached fifteen seconds he backed up to other side of the roof and ran before jumping off and spreading his arms and legs like a skydiver would do. Three seconds into the fall he felt the suit forming around him and had to allow a small smile on his face. The basic function of his suit he had been working on for weeks worked. Now he just needed to add all the bells and whistles. Tony flew supersonic back to the mansion and immediately started a trace on Pepper's cell. He was not going to let Hammer take away the only good thing in his life. That's when he saw in the corner of the screen in the suit he had an email. Tony opened it and the words written chilled his heart. '_She's mine'._

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**phew, done. Boy am i tired but very excited. My BFF ju****st enlisted in the Army today. He's a private now so yay! Thnaks for reading guys and for all the favorites and alerts but most importantly for clicking that button underneath and consequently giving me a smile. So i'll hopefully see you all soon with the next update not sure. Midterms are coming fast and of course that means big packets for each class. **

**110 DAYS TILL IRON MAN 3! i started the countdown January First on my new Avengers Calendar and you'd never guess who is may and november. Yup Iron Man and Thor so they coincide with their movie premieres. **


	21. Torture

**Hello everyone, long time no see. But granted, this beast, 4,300 words! it's crazy how big this chapter was. I do hope some of you will be fine when you read this and that it's not incredibly graphic for you as per the title of this chapter says. Thx for those of you who are still with me and still reviewing (much thanks to you) and messaging with me. It's always fun. Also, if you have not read the prequel, Alternative to strawberries, i recommend doing so as i will now be pulling scenes and elements fro it for the rest of this story. **

**Read, enjoy, review**

Chapter 21: Torture

Hammer closed the laptop and took out the battery, setting them on the metal table beside their arrangement of drugs. He got up with a grin plastered on his face and went to make sure Pepper's living quarters were in order. A chair with a single lamp was in the back corner as her light space. Of course he wasn't a complete bastard so he had a cot put in. He couldn't very well just…kill her. He had to destroy Tony slowly. Make him watch her suffer and slowly break her as well. The Thorazine would help with that. An even bigger smile came to his face as he thought of Emma being on his side for all of this. He couldn't wait to finally be able to propose. Thoughts of proposing had him sticking his hand in his pants' pocket and twirling the ring around. Justin walked out the open doorway of Pepper's quarters going over to the main door where his friends would be arriving within the hour. He wasn't really worried about them being followed because Danny was good at what he did. The next few days were bound to be fun.

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Danny was driving along peacefully, taking evasive caution and every once in a while making a loop around until he was positive they didn't have a tail. Once Danny was positive they weren't being followed he broke the silence.

"A distress code is something the military, a special agency like the F.B.I., diplomats, really anyone of power has. It's to let the other person you're communicating with aware that you are in danger. My unit had one, we never used it but we had it in place while we were in the danger zone. It's highly effective. That's why we saw those people come running toward us. She let Stark know that she was in danger. She said he was paranoid so he probably had undercover cops in place, ready to respond in seconds."

"Can't they just trace her phone to find out where she is?"

"Shit! Her phone, oh god I'm so stupid. She still has her phone; they could be tracking us now. We need to get to the rendezvous and fast." Danny said angry with himself. It was a rookie mistake and of course the rookie (Emma) would catch his mistake. Danny beat his hand on the steering wheel in anger and took in a deep breath to calm down. "Emma you have her purse, go through it and dig out her cell."

Emma complied and was searching through when she pulled out a photo that was in Pepper's purse that sent a small pang of remorse. She saw how happy Pepper looked with Tony and thought, '_I'm taking her away from someone she loves.'_ She swallowed and pushed that thought from her mind instead thinking about how Tony had nearly destroyed her one true love's life. This made her swell with anger and she stuffed the photo back in and grabbed out the blackberry.

"I got it."

"Good, just hold onto it. We're almost at the rally point."

They drove in silence for another ten minutes hearing the occasional moan from Pepper. When they finally reached the chop shop, Danny quickly climbed out after cutting the engine. Emma got out as well and he held out his hand for Emma to toss the phone. "Emma, phone." He said. She tossed him the phone and he disappeared into the building calling out, "Stay here and watch her. I'll be back in a minute." He walked into the office where their contact was waiting, reading a magazine on Justin Beiber. "Mark!" He barked. The man quickly threw down the magazine and jumped out of his chair drawing a weapon and pointing at Danny's chest.

"Christ Danny!" Mark cried lowering his weapon. "Haven't you learned not to sneak up on me?" He asked holstering his glock back onto his hip.

Danny smirked and smiled. "Nice to see you too buddy." Mark smiled and walked up to Danny embracing him in a hug.

"How you been?"

"Been better, but you know I'm hanging in there."

"That's good. The cops behind you?"

"Not sure. I need a high powered magnet and some water, preferably a bowl or a sink."

"Yeah yeah, sure give me a sec. You can go and check out your new boosted ride; it's in the garage. Keys are in the ignition."

"Thanks Mark."

"No problem." Mark called over his shoulder as Danny drifted into the garage to check out his new ride. As promised it was a nice luxury 05' SUV. Danny grinned and walked over to the driver's side, opening the door and getting in.

"Oh yeah." He sighed as he got comfortable in the plush leather. He turned around behind him and saw that there was the three row seating to put Pepper on. He climbed out of the SUV reluctantly and met Mark back in the office who had a bowl of water and magnet on the desk. "Thanks man."

"Yeah. You getting rid of her phone?"

"Yup."

"Just like they taught us?" Mark asked curiously.

"Just like they taught us." Danny confirmed.

"What do you think of the ride?" Mark asked with a grin.

"It's sweet. I love it." Danny replied with the same boyish grin. Mark reclined back in his chair and picked up his magazine while Danny swiped the magnet across Pepper's phone then allowed it to soak in the water for a minute before taking it out and smashing it under his foot.

"Alright, I'm outta here brother. It was nice to see you, thanks for the help."

"Yup." Mark said getting up again and clapping Danny's back as he hugged him.

"Tell Sarah I said hello and little Mackenzie that Uncle Danny is sending her a present for her birthday soon."

"I will man, take care. The clothes are in the back! Be safe and for god's sake man, don't destroy the car!" Mark called out as Danny walked into the garage and climbed into the SUV starting it up. Mark opened the garage door and Danny pulled out and around back where he had parked. He saw Emma still standing there in her dress and pulled up next to her. He rolled down the window and said, "I'll get her in, the clothes are in the trunk for you to change. I'll change when we get there."

"Alright." Emma said quickly.

Danny climbed out and walked over to the car to pull Pepper out and put her into the back of the SUV. As he sat back into the driver's seat waiting for Emma to finish changing he thought about how smoothly everything was going now and looked forward to when this would be done and he would be in the wind again on a beautiful beach.

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Pepper really had no idea what was going on. She just felt foggy and unable to move. She tried to speak but discovered that her mouth wouldn't move. She felt like a prisoner in her own body. Her mind was numb but the one thing she could remember was Tony's voice and his smiling face. All of a sudden there was a faint screech and an opening door and Pepper knew she had to be in a car. She didn't know how much time had passed when a door opened and she was being taken out and forced to her feet when two sets of arms were draped around her waist and she was being dragged forward. She rolled her head to look at who had her and recognized the woman; and that's when she remembered that Hammer was kidnapping her and that she had warned Tony. Tony! He would save her. She felt herself being dropped into a chair and her limbs beginning to be bound to each leg of the chair. Pepper squinted to try and look around, to gather information about where she was, but the light in front of her was blinding and burned her eyes. A figure began to move from the shadows that Pepper was familiarized with.

"Hammer." She slurred.

"Pepper! So nice to see you, and might I say, looking just as pretty as I remember. You remember Emma don't you?" He asked gesturing to the woman now in civilian attire. "Of course you do. Tony was in a bit of a precarious situation, totally a mistake by the way, but Danny took care of that problem. One thing you might not have known, that you'll get to witness, is that Emma here is also my beautiful girlfriend." Hammer said with a smile kissing Emma. "Anthony took away everything that mattered to me. My job, my company, my reputation, so now I'm going to take away the one thing that matters most to him. So you see, I really am going to kill you Pepper dear, but I want him to watch you suffer and suffer along with you because there is absolutely nothing he can do to stop this. Danny, would you do the honors and secure the line then hack into his webcam and broadcast us."

"My pleasure boss."

"Danny here is also a computer whiz."

"We're up online Boss, he's starting to show up."

"Excellent, let's turn the computer to Pepper here so she can see her…precious boyfriend's reaction."

Pepper began to feel increasingly in control of her body and tried to find something that was different wherever she was, that could help Tony find her. She turned back to Hammer and noticed he was talking to Tony through a webcam.

"Tony!" She weakly shouted, her voice squeaking. It was enough to get his attention.

"Oh God, Pepper. Hammer if you harm her I'll kill you even if it kills me." She heard Tony say picking up on the rage he felt.

"Threats Anthony? What are you going to do? Jump through the screen? I think not." Hammer said amused and clearly enjoying her demise more than a normal person should. "Emma dear, would you give Pepper the first dose."

Pepper could hear Tony's protests, but as soon as the needle punctured her skin and went deeper into her muscle her focus went to the pain she felt. Tony's cries of protest made her heart ache and she wanted to comfort him, to tell him it would all be okay but suddenly everything became fuzzier than it had and she felt her heart slow down. She looked over to her left and saw Danny walking closer to her but didn't register anything until her arm was in his hand and was being pulled back hard at an odd angle. Pepper screamed in pain as she heard the sickening pop and felt a radiating heat move through her body. It was almost too much for her brain to handle that her body was telling her brain to just shut down. Tears streamed down her face and the searing white pain didn't seem to end. She faintly heard Tony's voice and more tears fell when she saw his horrified, guilty expression. She wanted to speak and tell him she loved him; to give him a spark to keep going. She met his eyes for a second and she poured her love into that gaze and knew he received her message when he sent one back. '_I love you too. I will save you Pepper. I won't let him take you from me.'_

That was the last thing she remembered because in the next instant her temple suddenly shrieked with pain from a cold metal blow and she passed out letting the tempting darkness that had been trying to take her, claim her just this once and she sunk back letting the black consume her just for a little while.

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Rhodey got the call from Tony ten minutes ago and already he was halfway to Tony's mansion. Rhodey drove subconsciously as his head was lost in his thoughts. He didn't know how Tony was reacting. When he got the call his best friend sounded so calm, but Rhodey knew that's when Tony was at his deadliest. When he was loud and obnoxious you could gauge his emotional wellbeing. Silence meant a couple things, one- he was in denial, two- he was boiling with rage but was so angry he appeared calm, or three- a combination of both. In which case he could blow his top at any moment or completely lose it and break down. Rhodey knew he had to keep Tony emotionally stable and constantly busy so Tony would be useful and be able to contribute to finding Pepper. Of course he'd still put money on Tony to find Pepper before the cops even if he was reacting in either extreme. Honestly, he had no idea which would be worse, but he knew Pepper couldn't afford for Tony to fall prey to either side. He needed to stay balanced out emotionally and physically and Rhodey just prayed that when those two parts of him were balanced his mental health would in turn balance itself out as well. Rhodey sighed, silently praying that he would be able to keep a cool head as well. He wanted a part in helping Tony inevitably kill Hammer. He wondered if Pepper had been hurt or was being treated decently. Hammer was crazy, he wanted vengeance, but he wasn't exactly harmful. But Rhodey really didn't have a clue, prison changed a person. Hammer could have gone full-blown psychopath. Rhodey pulled up to the front doors of the mansion and saw Happy waiting for him.

"How is he?" Rhodey asked nervously walking up to Happy.

"See for yourself. He's down in his workshop. I've tried talking to him but I don't think he actually hears me. He's been talking himself this whole time but he's been really calm and docile." Happy said as they descended the stairs to the open workshop.

"Shit." Rhodey cursed under his breath. Tony was already beginning to go crazy and leaning towards breaking. "Happy, I need you to go get something for Tony to drink, anything but alcohol." Rhodey stressed.

"Got it." Happy replied heading back up the stairs as Rhodey walked through the open door.

"Tony." Rhodey said firmly.

"I installed that chip myself, there's no way they-" Tony rambled to himself.

"Tony." He called again firmly.

"-could have found it. There has to be some other explanation." Tony continued rambling.

"Tony!" Rhodey said louder shaking his friend's shoulder as he reached the desk Tony was sitting at. Tony snapped his attention to the voice and body that took him from his mind. As Tony met his eyes they lit up and it seemed to Rhodey as though his presence had put Tony at ease. Tony stood up and crushed Rhodey in a hug.

"Thank god you're here. I felt myself going crazy. Rhodey I need you to help keep me in check. I won't be of any help to Pepper if I'm not functioning." Rhodey smiled and returned Tony's hug.

"I already planned on it brother." He replied. Tony beamed him a grateful smile. "How long has our girl been missing?" Rhodey asked.

"JARVIS." Tony called out.

"Twenty-three minutes and forty-seven seconds, sir."

"Okay, what have you tried doing?" he asked Tony curiously.

"I tried tracking her with the bug JARVIS and I installed nearly a month ago. Remember when I was dying?" Tony asked straight-faced.

"Yeah, a little hard to forget, especially since you didn't tell me."

"Anyways, when I was working on synthesizing the Starkonium, I took Pepper's phone when she had fallen asleep in the house doing paperwork and I lo-jacked it. Well, JARVIS had the signal and was working on pin pointing it when it suddenly stopped."

Rhodey could tell by the tone of Tony's voice that he was mystified. "Okay, well they probably removed the battery."

"Rhodey, you're missing the point. _I _put in that bug, _I _designed it so it would continue to broadcast and transmit even if the battery was turned off. The only way it could have stopped working is if they found it, which is highly unlikely or…" Tony froze and Rhodey watched the calculations and realizations form.

"Or what?" Rhodey asked wanting to be let in on this information.

"Son of a bitch. I bet it was that Fisher guy. He's ex-military. What are most military guys taught to do to destroy a phone, Rhodey?"

"They take a- shit. He wiped it with a magnet and dropped it in water."

"Exactly."

"He erased the phone with the magnet and scrambled any transmitter, then he put it in water and the device is dead. Then he crushes it." Rhodey explained out loud more to himself than Tony.

"That's why my bug stopped working. Son of a bitch. Damn, Rhodey, I don't have any other ideas." Tony said sounded rather dejected.

"Because you're not thinking clearly, but I've got an idea." Rhodey said pausing as he saw Happy come walking through the open door.

"Spill Rhodes! Pepper doesn't have time!" Tony cried frustratedly.

Happy handed Rhodey a cup and said, "Chocolate milk with cherry juice."

"Thanks Happy." Rhodey thanked and Happy nodded. "Drink this while I explain, Tony. You need something else in your system besides the alcohol you no doubt consumed earlier." He said pushing the cup to Tony who reluctantly took it and first sipped it. After the first sip Rhodey watched as he began to gulp it down deciding it tasted delicious. "The center you were at had cameras all over right? So…we hack in to the police station and use the list of everyone in attendance; waiters, bar tenders, guests, parking valets, chefs, everyone, we run a shot of everyone through the police database and cross reference it with the list. Your kidnapper had to have slipped in under one of the names on the list. Now, I'm not saying it won't take time, but at least we'll be able to identify how they got Pepper." Rhodey finished off.

"Great idea Rhodey." Happy said in amazement.

"Not bad Platypus." Tony said with the smallest smiles as he whirled around and plopped into his desk chair; beginning to do things with JARVIS that Rhodey had no clue about.

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Tony stared at the computer screen blankly for a moment as a short memory of Pepper invaded his mind.

"_You could never do that before we slept together! God what did I do to you?"_

Tony smirked for a moment as he savored the memory of the puppy dog face he gave her and her appalled reaction. He looked back to the computer screen that flashed the word, complete. He had just finished hacking into the police databases and AFIS and set it up on a separate screen when a blinking green light caught his eye. It was the webcam light. Tony looked at the green light confusedly until he saw his computer screen get filled up with a glimpse of Hammer's face.

"JARVIS, put this on the big screen now." Tony said getting up from his chair and walking to stand in front of the big transparent screen. "Rhodey!" He called out mesmerized by the screen. After a minute of adjusting, Tony could finally see Hammer and the sight of the man, made Tony want to growl. The son of a bitch had a grin plastered on his face, his eyes filled with a masked rage.

"Anthony! What a pleasure to see you once again."

"Where is she Hammer?" Tony calmly ground out

"Who Emma?" He said coyly. "Oh well she's-"

"Pepper. Where's Pepper?" Tony said angrily that the bastard found this amusing and fun.

"Oh, Virginia? Your girlfriend? She's fine, for the moment but-"

"Tony!" A sweet voice squeaked out. Tony's heart stopped, his mind froze. That was Pepper's voice, hoarse and scared. She was _scared._ In that moment his blood boiled and he felt like jumping through the screen and strangling Hammer with his bare hands.

"Oh God, Pepper." Hammer, if you harm her, I'll kill you even if it kills me." He growled unable to stand Pepper being caught in the crosshairs.

"Threats, Anthony? What are you going to do? Jump through the screen? Emma dear, would you kindly give Pepper the first dose."

"Hammer stop, stop! What are you giving her?! Stop, stop! Hurt me not her!" He cried out desperately.

"Ah see, but that's just it; if I'm hurting you then it won't really hurt. She is what makes you hurt. You're going to feel the pain you gave me and you're going to feel it through her." Hammer said keeping a tight lid on his anger.

He watched as Emma pushed the needle into Pepper's arm and his face contorted in agony as he felt Pepper's pain ripple through him. She was in pain. "Stop Hammer!" He said wanting to sound authoritative but sounding rather more like a weak mouse.

"Oh don't worry; this stuff won't kill her." Hammer said rather happily but then his face darkened and he said in a lower tone, "I'll be the one to do that." Tony could see in his eyes that Hammer truly meant to kill Pepper. "Danny, if you'd be so kind as to show Anthony here how we treat our guests."

Tony watched helplessly as Danny walked over to Pepper and began to untie her left arm. He knew in his gut that something terrible was about to happen to Pepper. He watched as Danny pulled her arm back and screamed in protest. His heart felt like it had been stabbed. Pepper's agonized cry pierced his ears and resonated loud and clear in his brain. She looked so out of it and in pain that he wanted to cry it hurt his heart so much. He saw her eyes look around until they landed on him, and he saw something in her eyes he had first seen on a roof over a month ago; back when she told him she had read his letter of submission of death. He had since seen it many times and knew she was trying to tell him that she loved him. It was as if she was standing right in front of him the message was so clear. '_I love you. I'll be alright. Save me please.'_

Tony's heart broke and he tried resending her a message hoping she received it. He could tell she had. The smallest of smiles appeared on her pain-stricken, pale lips and her whole demeanor seemed to calm down a notch before Danny pistol whipped her and her body went slack, head lolled to the side. "Pepper!" He screamed out, his heart aching terribly. He had never known such pain, not even being blown up compared to this indescribable pain he felt in his heart. He knew she wasn't dead; he'd be able to feel it if she was really dead. No, Pepper was just resting, but that didn't stop his mind from running through the 'what ifs'.

"In two days your girlfriend will be dead. I will strip you of everything you care about. I will you destroy you piece by piece as I make you watch her suffer. Don't bother having your robot run a trace, it's secured, compliments of Danny, so any attempt you make to find her will fail. Welcome to hell Anthony." Hammer said coldly, darkly, then the screen went black.

Tony wavered in his stance but Rhodey (who he had forgotten about) caught him before he could fall. "Oh God." Tony breathed just above a whisper, his eyes filled with guilt and sadness.

"Hey, hey, Tony snap out of it! Pepper doesn't need your remorse; she needs your help. So you need to put aside all those harmful emotions that aren't going to help and shelf them for later. We can't afford that kind of emotion right now. We need logic, reasoning, determination. People who respond with emotion do stupid things; we can't let our hearts lead this battle. We need to use our heads." Rhodey said calmly still holding onto Tony. But Tony couldn't focus on what Rhodey was saying, all he could hear was the pop of Pepper's shoulder and her agonizing screams. All he could see was her face saying, '_I love you'_. All he felt was emptiness, pain, and rage and he didn't know whether to go curl up in a ball and cry, or to go punch a wall and then take off in his Audi and just drive like a mad man. He felt rather than saw a fist smack his chest.

When he turned to look at the person who had struck him he saw Rhodey's concerned look. "Ow." He said absent mindedly rubbing his chest.

"Did you just hear any of what I said?" Rhodey asked. Tony gave him a sheepish apologetic look. "I said we need to think this through, not use our emotions. Emotion is deadly in this situation and we can't afford any mistakes if we want to get Pepper back before Hammer hurts her even more."

Tony nodded in agreement and shot Rhodey a half smile of thanks. He could do that, right? Set aside his emotions and use math and logic and science to find Pepper. He could use his brain before acting, right? He kidded himself. This was Pepper, there would always to some degree be emotions; he loved her with every atom in his body. He had to get her back. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He had to bring Pepper home and fast.

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**whoo, that's finally done. So it's finally official and i'm letting it out now but, there will be a sequel to this story. Yes yes, i realize that this is already a sequel but this sequel will have a sequel. See you all next time**


	22. A Plan Formed Through the Depths

**Hello is anyone still here? *cricket cricket* It seems as though almost everyone has disappeared from the normal review board line up. I hope i'm not losing your interest but i suppose i can't really stop that from happening. Sigh oh well. Thx for those of you who are still with me and reviewing. Much appreciated, really. Especially when you go from an average of nine- twelve reviews to three or four. yeah. lol. Anyways sorry it's been almost a week, midterms, sickness, Fine Arts stuff, blah blah blah. The usual life throws at you. This one is not as long as the other two chapters, still a decent sized one. Had to cut it back some to get this to you few today. So i think that's about it.**

**Read, enjoy, review.**

Chapter 22: A Plan Formed Through the Depths

Danny took first watch keeping an eye on Pepper. Of course they really didn't expect her to wake up with that much Thorazine. It was a tranquilizer for a reason and it had a very numbing effect on the muscles, but he also knew for a fact that she was still in pain from her shoulder and her temple. Honestly, he was proud of his work. It was a clean dislocation and he had hit her directly on the temple. The Military had taught him interrogation techniques and how to kill and maim a person. He watched as Pepper lie on her back, dislocated arm on her chest at an angle, her face contorted in pain. He had at least put her in the right position for it to heal correctly. Granted it wouldn't really matter all that much if it was set properly or not as she'd be dead soon anyways. Before he knew it the night had passed and it was dawn. Emma came walking into the reverse mirror room allowing them to see into Pepper's room; it was one of the special renovations they had made previously. Emma carried a small bowl of oatmeal and a spoon in one hand and held a cup of water in the other.

"She has to wake up. Justin wants her fed. She needs some food in her stomach before we can give her the Ultram." She spoke softly setting down the bowl and cup.

He nodded in acknowledgement as Emma left the room and sat watching Pepper for another minute more before finally getting up from his spot. He quickly stretched then took the bowl in one hand, cup in the other and walked out the door-less room and burst into Pepper's room after unlocking it. As the door slammed against the wall she shot up and then screamed in pain due to such actions.

"Jesus girl. Relax, I'm not going to hurt you again. I came to give you breakfast." He set the bowl on the floor a few feet from her cot and set the cup down beside it and left shutting the door again and locking it up tight.

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'_He'll never save you. You're going to die here alone, broken, and beaten until there's nothing left of you but dust!'_

The sound of a loud bang instantly woke her and she shot up to identify the sound forgetting all about her shoulder until it burned like a searing iron brand and she screamed in pure agony from not only her shoulder but her throbbing head as well. Stars clouded her vision as she tried to focus. Her ears rang and she almost believed she was at a hotline center the ringing was so loud. She saw the face of the man who hurt her shoulder and her head and looked at him unable to hide the fear in her eyes. She saw his lips begin to move but heard nothing and looked at him confused. Was she going deaf or was he just not talking? She swallowed and a pop resounded. Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of his voice and she caught the last word he said, "breakfast."

She watched curiously as he set the bowl he held down followed by a cup nearly a mile away from her and waited for him to leave before she got up to move and became aware of her dress beside the bed. She shifted her eyes onto her apparel and noted how she was in a pair of teal nurses' pants and a black T-shirt that said in blood red, YOLO. Underneath she strained to read the rest, Give Blood. They had left her feet bare. Pepper grimaced as she tried turning her body and cradled her arm to her chest much like a mother would her baby. She knew they hadn't bothered to pop her arm back in place and could tell it was going to set wrong if she didn't fix it, but trying to fix it could also cause her to place further damage to her shoulder. She also didn't have any pain medication and would consequently put herself in more pain if she tried to fix it. Of course if she absolutely had to she could; she had seen Michael Westen do it before on Burn Notice. He had used a post to slam his shoulder back in place. She looked around and saw that there was nothing for her to slam into to specifically target her shoulder without hitting the rest of her body. Pepper sighed and slowly got off the uncomfortable cot (which had no doubt not done her shoulder any good) and padded her way slowly on the cold concrete floor to the bowl, almost falling over a few times she was so dizzy and off balance. She finally reached the bowl and sunk down into a sitting position and squinted to see its contents in the dimly lit room. She took a whiff and identified the contents as oatmeal, the good kind, brown sugar.

Not seeing the spoon, she lifted the bowl with one hand and brought it to her lips and tilted back until the spoon fell from its spot and the end of it rest against her cheek. She set the bowl down and grabbed the spoon eating the food from it then setting it on the ground and re-lifted at an angle until the food began drudging its way down the bowl and into her mouth. She quickly swallowed realizing just how empty her stomach was and quickly began to eat the rest nearly dumping the oatmeal all over her she titled it so high and too fast. In less than a minute the oatmeal was gone and Pepper replaced the bowl with the cup of water and cooled her parched throat from the sweet, luke-warm oatmeal. Once both things were sitting in her stomach, she went back to her bed and lie with her back against the wall and let her thoughts drift. Her mind began to feel increasingly clearer as time went on and it brought her back a month ago. Tony was dying and he had finally told her. She remembered their first kiss and let herself be immersed in that happy memory for a moment.

"_Pepper? What's wrong? I'm not gonna be forced to leave. I found the element Pep." Pepper continued to sob relentlessly into his shirt squeezing him as though if she let go she'd lose him forever. Not knowing what to do in this unknown territory, Tony simply held her and rubbed her back. That's when he knew he couldn't not let her know how he felt about her. "Pepper." He said softly using his finger to lift her chin up to meet her eyes with his. As she met his eyes he whispered her name once more. "Pepper. I'll never leave you. I'll always be with you Pep." _

_Pepper choked back her remaining sobs as she met his eyes. They were glowing a warm brown and it was the caring, sincere look he had in his eyes that made her brain stop and her heart go into overdrive. His words touched her and made her heart skip a beat but before she could get her heart back under control, Tony had begun leaning down toward her. His hand encased the side of her face, and the look he gave her before he closed the remaining space between them, was more than any amount of words could ever convey. After knowing him for ten years she had been able to read his mind and in that moment Pepper could see what he was saying, 'I want this Pepper. I want you. I can't hold up this façade any more. You're what I need; you aren't like anyone else I've met. That's why I took so long, because you're not like anyone else I've met. You're exactly what I need because I can't be me without you.' As his lips finally met hers she couldn't help but not feel the deep seated longing portrayed and the full raw emotion behind his kiss. His lips felt warm and comforting and in that single moment she felt something she hadn't in a long time, safe and wanted. As she felt Tony slowly pull back she smiled and rest her forehead against his and her hands on his biceps. Tony felt himself smile and he again placed his hand on her check. _

Pepper didn't know how much time had elapsed but she awoke to the sound of the door unlocking and Danny's voice commanding her. "Let's go, it's time to say hello to your boyfriend again."

Pepper gulped. They were going to hurt her again and make Tony watch.

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Rhodey awoke in the Hot Rod to find his head in Tony's lap and Tony's arm lying haphazardly on his chest. Rhodey jumped up with a shriek of, "What the hell!", and awoke Tony who also began to panic and smacked his head on the metal car door.

"Ow! God, Rhodey! What the hell was that?" He cried rubbing his head.

"Why don't you tell me!" Rhodey retorted freaked out.

He looked at the various pieces of paper strewn about and the half-eaten burgers on the dash lying next to a various number of pens.

"What were we even doing last night?" Rhodey asked confused as he picked up a paper and read off the words written. "Companies, houses, abandoned places. Black hair, blue eyes? What? What does that even mean?" Rhodey watched as Tony took one of the burgers and bit into it. His face contorted into one of disgust as he watched Tony consume the day old, cold burger. He picked up another piece of paper strewn with different colors. It was a picture of a woman with black hair and blue eyes in a dress and the picture looked like it came from the dinner Tony and Pepper had been at before she was kidnapped. Rhodey smacked a hand on Tony's arm. "Tony, check this out! I think I found her." Rhodey said.

Tony grabbed the paper out of his hand and stared at the picture. "Read me that list again." Tony said.

Rhodey picked up the other discarded paper and repeated, "Companies, houses, abandoned places, black hair, blue eyes." That seemed to have clicked for Tony. Rhodey watched as his friend fumbled to get out of the hot rod. "Tony, what is it?" He didn't know if Tony had ignored him or genuinely didn't hear him because Tony had become lost in his head.

It was as if suddenly Tony couldn't see or hear him. Rhodey had seen him one track minded many times before over the years and knew that everything was being inputted into Tony's overwhelming equation and being solved. He also knew that when Tony got like that it was best to leave him alone. He wouldn't break down or go into a wild rage because he was too focused on whatever was running through his head that those emotions became a liability. Distractions would only cause Tony to lose whatever was going on in his head. Rhodey had made that mistake once before and was not going to make it a repeat performance. So instead, Rhodey opted to clean up around the workshop until Tony had solved the equation.

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Too much was running through his mind at once. He had put it all together. He had been too tired to figure it all out clearly at three in the morning; but now that he was rested (thankfully without a nightmare of Pepper's haunting cry of pain) he could put an equation together. He had all the variables. That picture had definitely been of his doctor Emma only younger, cuter, and less murder-y. The places Rhodey had listed were most definitely places they would keep Pepper and since they were torturing her they were either very isolated or the walls were soundproof. No normal house however was built with soundproof walls in the blueprint which meant renovations had to be made which could be traced. Plus no one had sound proof walls unless they had something to hide, like Pepper.

As calculations were made JARVIS was searching for places from the data Tony inputted. Tony stayed focused on finding the place they were keeping Pepper while going through the video feed from the dinner that he had copied from the police server. He wasn't sure how much time passed before his hyperactive brain caught something.

"JARVIS rewind the video feed on camera three by two seconds and freeze it." JARVIS complied and then Tony stared at the semi-clear picture and said, "Zoom in on the face."

That was her. He had found them. Pepper hadn't been taken just by his doctor but there was the military guy that had helped.

"JARVIS hack into all the traffic cams around the center and only show me the exterior cameras for the center."

"What are you trying to accomplish Sir?"

"I'm trying to find the car they took and match it to the traffic cams so I can see where they were going. I also want you to mark with a blinking red dot the last place the phone bug was transmitting from."

"Yes Sir."

Although he had pieced together the information, Tony found he was unable to be put at ease. He couldn't; not until he identified the place Pepper was being held. He had a plan for that too. He doubted Hammer would make it easy to find Pepper so the next time Hammer made him watch Pepper being tortured (which he undoubtedly would because he was a smug bastard who loved flaunting power) he would upload a virus onto their server that spammed them. If Fisher really was the computer whiz Hammer boasted him to be, then he would try and block the virus which would provide Tony with just enough time to identify the server they were using, have JARVIS run a trace, and Danny wouldn't suspect a thing except for the fact Tony tried and failed to hack them. The only flaw in his plan was that he still couldn't stop them from harming Pepper and he would still be forced to watch, but Tony wasn't worrying about that part yet. For now, he had a lead and he would chase it down until it lead him to Pepper.

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**So thanks for reading and sticking with me. Please review. And if you're looking for a fun story to read may i suggest, What Happens in the Riviera Stays in the Riviera. I'll see you guys next time when we finally get to see Tony's plan in action. Very excited. 95 days left for all you American IM fans until IM3 comes out.**


	23. Found

**Hello Everyone!**! **So just as i was about to post this yesterday, the internet went down however it meant i had time to write out the next two chapters and boy are you guys in for a surprise. Thank you to my supporters who reviewed please keep doing so. This story is wrapping itself up relatively soon. i can't really guess how many chapters more but i want to say like five? Superbowl today! Go 49ers. I'm really a Colts fan but the Ravens knocked my team out so obviously i don't want them to win. But we also get our next IM3 trailer today! Yeah. **

**I hope you guys like this chapter because next chapter is when the real action you've been waiting to see happens and boy oh boy does it happen. So read, enjoy, and review please!**

Chapter 23: Found

Justin took a few deep breaths as he awaited Emma to walk through the door to their temporary bedroom. Sweat rolled down his back like the first raindrops of a shower and coated his forehead in a thin layer. He paced back and forth nervously as his fingers twirled the ring around in his pants' pocket. His heart was running a marathon all on its own and Justin Hammer had never felt so nervous and insecure or unsure about anything as much as he did in that moment. What if she finally woke up and really saw him and ran away scared like any other normal person would. He didn't know why she had stuck around this long. Suddenly his mind was filled with 'what if's' and unpleasant scenarios. What if Emma left him? What if she said no and took off? What if she sided with Tony? His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as the door opened and she walked through. Her beauty never ceased to leave him breathless. Her smile was brighter and prettier than the shiniest diamond in the world. He loved how she always smelt like coconuts and tropical citrus fruit.

"You wanted to see me?"

Justin was so enchanted by her that he didn't even hear what she had spoken. She laughed and he smiled.

"I said, you wanted to see me?"

"Oh uh yes. Have you ever thought about the future and what you wanted from it?" He asked.

"Well yeah, of course. I've always wanted to become a doctor, get married someday and have a family."

"I've been thinking a lot about the future." He said beginning to walk closer to her until he stopped a foot away. "And I can't picture a future without you in it. So Emma, I guess what I'm trying to say is," Justin pulled out the ring from his pocket confidently, knowing that it was right and knelt down in front of her and looked up at her eyes as a gasp escaped her lips and said, "Emma Brooke Dyksterhouse, will you give me the immense pleasure of being by my side forever?"

She answered without hesitation and with a joyful smile. "Yes! Yes! Of course I'll marry you Justin!"

His heart swelled and for the first time, happy tears fell from his eyes and he smiled at her brightly as he slipped the ring onto her finger. He felt a sudden weight push him to the ground and instinctively wound his arms around the mass. His eyes met Emma's sparkling ones and she giggled before he crushed his lips to hers feeling immensely joyous.

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Despite the sharp pain she felt with every step she found herself feeling rather dull and unable to take in her surroundings as she was forced to walk to wherever she was being taken. She tried to hold in her cries of pain but as she was pushed into a chair her shoulder was slammed into the back of a metal chair and her arm was grabbed from her chest and tied again to the arm of the chair. The raw pain was almost unbearable as her arm was forced away from her chest. Almost immediately she felt a needle puncture her skin but the pain her shoulder was in over-rid the seemingly small pain of the giant needle.

"Justin wants to see you in the other room Emma."

"Oh okay. Thanks Danny. Can you give her the other dose of Ultram, not the Thorazine. Do _not_ combine the two." Emma stressed.

"I got it I got it." He waved her off.

Pepper watched Emma remove the needle from her arm and watched her walk away. She fixed her hazy vision on Danny and saw him hesitate before walking over to her with another needle in his hand.

"Well…I hope this is the right one." He said before he thrust the needle into her arm and slowly pushed the contents into her arm. Even with him slowly draining the drug from the needle Pepper felt a fire burn throughout her body as the drug was pumped into her system. She felt her mind grow numb along with the pain in her shoulder but she could also feel her heart rate exponentially slow down. He had definitely given her what Emma told him not to. Pepper felt a cold hand clasp over her heart and she shook it off. She was not going to die, not yet. She pushed back as hard as she could mentally and willed herself to stay awake; she had to, for Tony.

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Tony hated waiting. He despised a lot of things but he particularly hated waiting for results and hospitals. He sat in his desk chair incessantly tapping his foot and drumming his fingers on the desk as if it was a bongo drum.

"Tony would you stop that? I get you're impatient but you're making us nervous." Rhodey called out from the couch where he and Happy sat sifting through documents of all sound proof wall purchases made in Malibu in the last month.

"Yeah, I've already got Band-Aids on most my fingers from these papers, I don't need your nervousness making me cut myself anymore thank you." Happy complained.

"Sorry." He apologized absent-mindedly. Tony focused back onto his computer screen and heard it begin to beep. JARVIS had located their car.

"Sir, I have successfully located the route in which they took before it reached the same spot that Ms. Potts' tracker was last transmitted." JARVIS said sounding rather dejected.

"So they must have had a second car." Tony mused.

"Yes Sir that seems the most logical explanation."

"Damn it!" Tony said smacking his fist against the glass in anger. "JARVIS pull up the satellite map and give me a view of the place the bug last transmitted from." Tony said angrily. A second later he was staring at an old auto shop. "JARVIS does the place have any surveillance cameras?"

"Three, but none of them are currently on or transmitting a frequency I can pick up on."

"Perfect." Tony muttered sarcastically. "JARVIS run a search on the license plate."

"Right away." The Al responded loyally.

"Hey Tony! Boss, I found something!" Happy called out excitedly.

Tony snapped his head to look at Happy faster than a bullet exiting the chamber.

"A large shipment of sound proof walls were shipped to the address 5513 Old Creek Rd."

Happy said before Rhodey cut in and added, "It's an old sawmill that closed down in the 1950s'. And get this, when I did some research it turned out the company that bought the place was O'Hare Gold. Turns out it's a shelf company for-"

"Hammer Industries." Tony breathed out in disbelief.

"Exactly." Rhodey and Happy said in unison looking at each other.

His mind was spinning, his breathing shallowed, the room suddenly began to move, and his heart was on the verge of having a heart attack it was beating a million beats a second. They had found her. They had found Pepper. He clung onto the arms of his chair and he could hear the pounding of his heart in his uncomprehending head.

"Sir, the car is registered to a Chad Deem, an employer of Hammer Industries who reported it stolen a few days ago." JARVIS spoke penetrating the silence in the room.

After eons Tony finally spoke and whispered, "We found her."

"We found her." Rhodey agreed with a smile. Tony was about to take off for the suit when Hammer's face filled up his vision.

"Hello again Anthony, oh I see you brought my old friend Colonel Rhodes and uh… some…other guy."

"We were never friends Hammer." Rhodey spat.

"And for the record the other guy's name is Happy." Happy spoke with menace in his voice to which Hammer replied with an eye roll.

"JARVIS the virus." Tony whispered.

"Already activated sir." JARVIS responded within seconds.

Tony felt a new confidence build within him and he answered defiantly, "What do you want Hammer?"

"I just thought you'd like to say hello to Pepper, catch up, and share stories, that sort of thing."

"What are you gonna do to her Hammer?" He asked cutting to the chase.

"I can't tell you; it's a surprise and I'd hate to ruin the surprise for you." Tony observed how happy and excited Hammer seemed and wanted to slug the smile of his face. He felt himself slowly sliding over the edge slowly into the pit of boiling anger and put a stop before he went tumbling.

"Sir, they've picked up the virus." JARVIS alerted.

"Come on Anthony, did you really think you were going to be able to track us? I'm a little hurt. Oh well, since I can't punish you directly I guess she'll just get it worse." Hammer said darkly as he turned the camera to Pepper and then walked out of the camera's sight for only a few seconds but it was enough to give Tony time to talk to Pepper.

"Pepper, we're gonna get you out of there. I'm going to save you."

He watched Pepper give him a small smile and lazily said, "I love you too Tony."

Tony's heart wept at the sight of Pepper. He could feel her hope diminishing. She was beginning to accept death. His brain gave him hope though and reminded him that they had found Hammer and JARVIS was reassuring that they had the right location.

"Go on Anthony, reassure her. Tell her everything is going to be okay."

He looked to Hammer, who wore a smug grin and held a metal bat, with pure hatred seething from his eyes. He looked to Pepper and his gaze softened immensely. "It's going to be okay Pepper. I promise you I will save you even if it kills me." He noticed her eyes became pained and noticed how she slightly flinched at his last words. "I love you Pepper Potts and I'll be damned if I don't get you back alive."

"Annnnddd cut! That was beautiful Anthony, quite lovely but I think we need to break that now. Don't you Pepper dear?"

Tony watched as Hammer grabbed a fistful of Pepper's hair much to her displeasure and shook her head up and down.

"See, she agrees. I'm so glad you agree Pepper." Hammer said chirpily before he hefted the bat up and quickly brought it back down and onto Pepper's arm with a sickening crack. Tony heard the crack of her bone as the bat connected with it like it would a baseball. Her cry deafened him and he looked on speechless in horror as Hammer did the same thing to her shoulder; the same one he observed Danny hurt last night. Tony choked back a sob and his footing staggered but felt a pair of arms around him as his eyes were transfixed on Pepper.

"Pepper!" He croaked with guilt and grief. Her head bobbed as she screamed and tears cascaded down her face. Her eyes were shut and her body shook.

"We'll see you tomorrow Anthony, I wouldn't want you to miss her dying."

The camera quickly cut and Tony bolted straight for his suit. "JARVIS did you I.D. the server?" Tony asked angrily as unashamed tears rolled down his face.

"I did indeed Sir. I ran a trace on the server and they are indeed at the same address Mr. Hogan said earlier."

"JARVIS upload the coordinates into the Mark VI interface and the Mark V."

"Right away Sir."

"Tony wait!" Rhodey called

"I hope you're not going to try and stop me from doing this because that won't work out very well for everyone." Tony warned.

"Of course not! I wanted to remind you to keep a clear mind until after we deal with Hammer…and to tell you I'm suiting up first so you can't take off without me."

Tony had to allow a small smile and said, "JARVIS prepare the Mark V for deployment. Thank you Rhodey." Tony said softly showing his true gratitude through his eyes.

Rhodey nodded and clapped him on the back before walking up onto the platform and suiting up.

"What am I, chop liver?!" Happy cried indignantly. "I'm the one who got the paper cuts and I'm the one who found her."

"Thank you Happy." Tony said with a smile.

"Yeah yeah, just bring our girl home. I don't think I can watch her being hurt anymore." Happy said with a cringe.

"You and me both Hap. Thank you for being here though, really for just helping me. I appreciate you always being here."

"Are you going soft on me Boss?" Happy asked with a grin.

"I ought to fire you." Tony said with a roll of his eyes in exasperation.

"You're stalling softie." Happy retorted.

Tony shook his head with a grin and walked up to the platform. "You're fired."

"Sure am." Happy replied.

"JARVIS assemble the Mark VI."

"The coordinates have been uploaded into the suits interface system." JARVIS said as the suit formed and assembled around Tony. Tony waited until every last bolt was screwed in and looked to Rhodey and Happy before he powered up the thrusters and shot out of the mansion like a rocket into space with Rhodey right behind him.

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Danny fired up the computer and made sure the line was secure before he broadcast Hammer to Tony. Danny smirked at how easy he found it until his email began blowing up. Tony was spamming him to try and sneak a virus into his server.

"Challenge accepted Mr. Stark." He muttered before saying out loud to Emma, "Stark is trying to track us."

"Can you shut him down?" She asked worriedly.

"Psssh, can I?" Danny replied with a grin, "It would be my genuine pleasure to have bested Tony Stark." He cracked his fingers and began typing away. He blocked the spam then sent a counter virus to shut down the virus that was embedded in the spam. Little did he know Tony had made that virus visible so it would distract Danny from the real one that JARVIS was sucking information from. As his fingers flew like his brain Danny had a grin on his face once he finally shut it down. "Got it. We're all good; Stark got nothing." He said to Emma who breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good. We need to start prepping for tomorrow."

"Already did, the charges are all made and placed. I just have to go around and arm them once it's time. Then, one call from my burner and this place and any trace evidence is blown to kingdom come." Danny said with a grin. Emma smiled. "Now, let me see that ring of yours." He said with a happy smile.

Potts was as good as gone. He had used high grade explosives and mixed it with fertilizer. There was no way she could survive the blast from one, let alone four.

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**Again thanks for reading. Please drop me a line. Review for the sake of goodness and all that is Pepperony! RDJ wants you to review! See you guys hopefully soon.**


	24. A Bad Day to Die

**Hello readers, thank you for the feedback last chapter. And hey look since i was out sick today that means i had time to type this up for you guys! So i hope you enjoy it, if one can enjoy heartache and pain, and well, the title says it all too. So just a precaution, have a tissue handy (i haven't not had a tissue in hand since friday) maybe some ice cream if that's your thing. **

Chapter 24: Bad Day to Die

Tony was soaring through the sky with Rhodey hot on his tail his mind determined to save Pepper and knock Hammer flat on his back as AC/DC screamed in his ears.

"Two miles out Sir." JARVIS said as he over-rid the music playing in Tony's helmet.

"Connect me to the Mark V, JARVIS." Tony demanded.

"Connecting."

"What's up Tony?" Rhodey asked.

"We're inbound two miles, get ready to bring the heat. I want you to get Pepper and get her out of there immediately. I've got Hammer."

"Alright, and Tony, please be careful."

"Always." He replied confidently keeping the line open. "JARVIS scan the building for any active trip wires or explosives."

"There appear to be no trip wires or explosives that can be set off upon entering."

"You heard him Rhodey, we're all clear to go in. JARVIS, give us a thermal image of the building." A mix of green, yellow, and reds appeared in their helmets as JARVIS provided a thermal image scan.

"Tony, it looks like Pepper is in the back of the building isolated in a room." Rhodey commented.

"I see her. We go in on the count of three on my mark. I'll drop in from the roof and you blast your way into the room next to Pepper and tell me as soon as you've cleared the building with her."

"Tony-" Rhodey tried interrupting.

"Rhodey, I have to get Hammer and if I can't be there for Pepper I need you to. Please Rhodey I can't do this without knowing someone I trust has got my back and my only reason for living." Tony said softly as he practically begged Rhodey for help. A moment went by before Rhodey answered.

"Alright fine. I'm getting into position now Tony." Tony's heart was beating rapidly. He was so close to Pepper he could almost feel her. "I'm ready Tony."

"On three. Ready, one…two…three!" He shouted before blasting through the roof and landing on his knee the way he always entered when donning Iron Man. He lifted his head and stood up straight right behind Hammer. "Hello there Justin." He said mask down, voice modulator prominent, a grin on his face as he watched Hammer turn around and look at him in shock and terror. "What? Did I show up to the party too soon?" He watched Hammer gulp and saw Emma look on at him scared. "Now…you can either surrender peacefully and sit here and wait for the cops to come or…we can do this the hard way which means I get to kill you like I very much would like to." Tony said finally feeling in control of the situation he had been helpless in for two days. He watched in confusion though as Hammer straightened up and a smirk replaced his terror.

"Actually Anthony, you're going to be the one who sits here. You see, what you don't know is that there's an armed bomb in dearest Pepper's room. Danny here has the phone to detonate it. So… I suggest you sit tight unless you want to watch her die." Hammer said in a sadistically happy tone.

Tony's heart sunk. JARVIS had obviously been wrong about the explosives. "Rhodey." He said through the suit loudly so Hammer could hear.

"Tony, I'm just about to get Pepper out of here, she's in bad shape man."

"Don't." Tony said calmly through gritted teeth angry at himself that he had managed to put Pepper's life at the mercy of Hammer once again.

"What?! Why not?! Pepper needs serious medical attention Tony! She's half conscious and she's barely got a pulse!" Rhodey cried incredulously.

"There's an armed bomb in her room that Hammer can set off whenever he wants. Please don't do anything." He begged then looked to Hammer before whispering, "Wait for my signal." Tony put his hands above his head slowly in a sign of surrender then yelled, "JARVIS the gas!" Knockout gas was quickly emitted into the air and saturated the lungs of every person in a matter of seconds before Danny could set off the bomb. "Rhodey stay put; I'm on my way now." He said into the helmet. "JARVIS which way to Rhodey?"

"Keep going straight and turn right. It's the second door on the left." JARVIS replied quickly almost as if he sensed the urgency Tony felt.

Tony quickly followed and walked into Pepper's room where Rhodey was standing beside her. "JARVIS where's the bomb?"

"It appears to be underneath the bed Sir."

Rhodey and Tony looked to the bed where Pepper lie half-awake whimpering and crying. Tony walked over to her in a daze as his breath hitched at seeing her worse for wear up close. He lifted up the mask and could still faintly smell the vanilla in her hair. His heart broke all over again upon seeing her so broken and beaten and a few tears betrayed his strong will and slowly dripped down his face.

"Hey…hey baby, I'm here Pep." He said softly in her ear pushing back some of the hair from her face so she could see him from where she lie on her back.

Her fleeting eyes met his for a second and registered him. "Tony." She mumbled.

"Yes baby, I'm here. Rhodey is gonna get you out of here okay baby. Just hold on for a little bit longer."

"I love you Tony." She said weakly.

"I love you too Pepper." He quickly bent down and gave her a chaste kiss all the while relishing the feeling. His heart ached and longed to hold her but he knew he had to disarm the bomb first. "Rhodey now. Get her out of here now." He said wiping away the stray tears and taking in a deep breath. He watched Rhodey carefully try to pick up Pepper but was unable to avoid hurting her and she cried out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Rhodey mumbled as he held her in his arms. "Be careful Tony." Rhodey said with a worried look lingering in his gaze. Tony watched him walk out with Pepper then heard the sound of the thrusters and focused back onto the bomb underneath her bed. He carefully lifted the cot and heard the small faint beep of a timer.

He looked to the bomb and only had time to say, "Shit.", and close the mask before the timer hit zero. Then he felt the heat of the blast and the power and everything went black.

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Danny shook his head groggily trying to clear away the cobwebs in his head. He shakily stood to his feet then regretted it. The room was spinning around like he was on a merry-go-round and his stomach promptly emptied itself. He looked around and saw Justin and Emma still asleep. He slowly hobbled over to them to avoid throwing up again and shook them awake. Justin was the first to come to.

"Emma's not up yet." He said to Hammer who groaned as he tried to sit up.

"I'll get her. Go arm the last one and meet us out back in the SUV." Justin said blinking his eyes rapidly to try and shake off the haze. Danny stood and walked away having gathered his bearings and walked in a straight line to the old boiler room. He quickly armed the bomb and called all the others, automatically starting the countdown from twenty seconds. He wormed his way out from behind one of the boilers only to get caught on a metal pipe. He tried to free his shirt but it seemed adamant in remaining stuck. Fear immediately took a hold like his training taught him not to, as his brain began counting down with the timer. Twelve seconds left. He pulled and pulled until finally he was released. Six seconds. He took off in a sprint and was almost to the back door when all hell broke loose and he was blown backwards. That's when he blacked out.

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Rhodey flew slower than usual so as not to jostle Pepper around and had just touched down in a field a few hundred meters away when the explosion resounded. He looked back and saw the whole place had become fun land for flames that danced around excitedly un-abashed. He waited to hear Tony in his head making some snide inappropriate comment about the sudden collapse of the building but nothing came. Thirty seconds later and he had neither seen nor heard anything from Tony.

"Tony?! Tony can you hear me?!" He called out in a panic. "Tony!" His cry was not answered and so he quickly called 911 for an ambulance (or two) and for the police. "Hello?! This is Colonel James Rhodes of the United States Air Force. I need a medic and the police stat! I'm at 5513 Old Creek Road. An explosion went off and I believe there are people still in the building. I rescued one and she's in serious condition. Note friendly will be marked by an Iron Man suit."

Rhodey hung up without waiting for any more questions and lifted Pepper who had blacked out, back into his arms and took off back to the remnants of the sawmill. He set Pepper down on a large piece of smooth rubble and walked amongst the chaos looking for Tony. He saw out of the corner of his eye an arm buried underneath a large sum of rocks and quickly unburied the person hoping it was Tony but found only Danny Fisher.

"JARVIS check for a pulse." Rhodey said as he pressed a metal finger to Danny's neck.

"There is no pulse Colonel. It looks as though Mr. Fisher was struck on the head and died instantly." Rhodey sighed and picked up Danny's body and walked him over to where Pepper was and gently set Danny beside her on the ground.

"JARVIS can you locate Tony?" Rhodey asked hopefully.

"Mr. Stark is approximately two-hundred feet due North-West of your location."

Rhodey trekked through the rubble and foundation until he saw a glimpse of red and gold. He walked a little faster and stopped cold when he was finally able to see Tony through the fading sunlight. "Oh God…Tony." He breathed.

Tony's helmet had come off and blood dripped from an open gash on his right cheek. Cuts littered his exposed face, but the worst thing was the rebar that impaled Tony deathly close if not through his heart. It had not only penetrated the suit but went straight through both sides. A crimson liquid gushed down the rebar and Tony's suit.

"Come on Tony, wake up!" Rhodey yelled. "JARVIS does he have a pulse?" Rhodey asked angrily. Tony's face was pale and ghostly white with only the blood dripping down his face adding color.

"I'm not reading any vital signs coming from Mr. Stark's suit." JARVIS said sadly.

"No! No!" Rhodey shouted. "Come on Tony! Wake up! Wake up! You can't leave us! Pepper needs you! Wake up Tony! Wake up!" He shouted as tears began to appear. "Wake up!" He cried once more. With a feeling of failure, Rhodey lifted Tony off the rebar and held the broken body of his best friend in his arms. The arc reactor was dark confirming what Rhodey feared. As he walked back defeated with Tony hanging limply in his arms he cried and began to feel increasingly angry at Tony. Rhodey set him down next to Pepper and yelled at him frustrated as he stripped Tony of the armor so the medics could hopefully help him. "I told you to be careful you dumbass! Why?! Why couldn't you just listen to me for once in your life?!" He cried as the taste of bitter tears entered his mouth. A minute later he had stripped Tony of his armor and was holding his friend in his arms when sirens finally pierced the skies. "How am I going to tell Pepper?" He whispered looking over to Pepper as grief began to overcome him. The past events that had occurred in the span of forty-eight hours caught up to Rhodey and he began to weep and mourn the loss of his best friend.

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**Thanks guys, sorry for leaving you here but hopefully you'll get the next chapter this weekend and hopefully you all will be kind enough to leave a few words for the sick person who managed to get this done for you guys, maybe, if you're not to sad or angry. See you soon!**


	25. Miracles

**Hi everyone! I'm back and feeling so much better with this next chapter. Now before i let you go i want to thank you for all the amazing reviews! Thanks alot guys.**

Chapter 25: Miracles

He beeped the horn again and simultaneously pressed the metal further into the floor. Happy briefly glanced at his speed and decided ninety wasn't fast enough. He pressed down on the pedal even harder and the Audi quickly responded. As he swerved left and right and then sharply drifted turning right onto Dandelion, he was met by the sounds of sirens right beside him. He had caught up with the ambulance carrying either Pepper or Tony and quickly fell in line right behind it as cars swerved to avoid the racing vehicles.

"C'mon Boss, wake up. Please dear God let him wake up." Happy prayed as he followed behind the ambulance. As soon as he had gotten the call from Rhodey in the ambulance five minutes ago he jumped into Tony's fastest and nearest Audi and burned rubber. It was only minutes later when the ambulance swerved to a stop and Happy did in turn as well. He grabbed the keys and jumped out of the Audi just in time to see the EMT's jump out of the ambulance with Tony on the stretcher. Happy spotted Rhodey in the back and ran to meet up with him as he disembarked the ambulance. "Rhodey!" Happy called out getting the distressed man's attention.

"Happy." He replied.

"Is he awake?" Happy asked nervously silently praying for him to answer yes.

"Yes and no." Rhodey replied grabbing the disassembled Iron Man suits from the ambulance.

"What happened?" Happy asked curiously.

"Nothing short of a miracle." Rhodey quickly responded as he threw the suits into the trunk of the Audi and the passenger seat.

"Where's Pepper?" He asked in confusion.

"She was taken about a minute before Tony so she and that Fisher guy are already here. Let's get inside and I'll tell you the whole story." Happy followed the grieving man inside the E.R. after locking the car and they both headed to the secretary to check and see where tony and Pepper were.

"Mr. Stark was rushed to surgery and Ms. Potts is getting x-rays taken." Happy followed Rhodey up to radiology where they sat and Happy looked to Rhodey for an explanation at how a rescue mission had turned into a suicide mission.

Happy sat there watching Rhodey retell all that had transpired and cringed as Rhodey described Tony's lifeless body. "They put a stretcher on the ground beside him and lifted him up and onto the stretcher; but the way his body just crumpled in their hands was sickening. Once we were in the ambulance they paddled him twice and I started giving up. Once they amped it up to the max nothing happened at first but then I saw him reactor start up and he gasped looking up and instantly looked for me and he said, 'Pepper'. I told him she was safe and then he blacked out again but his pulse was back and stabilizing."

Happy released a breath he didn't know he had been holding in the first place. The enormous metal doors to radiology opened and Pepper was being wheeled out in a bed. Rhodey and Happy both stood and walked over to the doctor looking person and stopped him.

"Where are you taking her?" Happy asked curiously.

"I'm not authorized to discuss-" The doctor began before Happy watched Rhodey snap and pin the man against the door in front of all the nurses also with Pepper.

"Do you know who she is doctor?" Rhodey asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes." The doctor replied stoically.

"Do you know who we are?" Rhodey asked

"No." The doctor said his voice wavering.

"We're her family. And her boyfriend is in this same hospital fighting for his life. If he doesn't wake up, we're the only family she's got that she trusts; so you better damn well let us know what's going on doctor."

Happy watched in amazement at how the doctor broke and began to spill what he knew. "Ms. Potts has a broken collar bone, ulna, and radius all on her right arm as well as a dislocated shoulder. We're going to put her forearm in a cast but the only thing we can do for her shoulder is pop it back in place and then wrap it and put her in a sling."

"You should know she's been drugged. We don't know with what so do not give her any pain meds until a full blood work up is done." Rhodey instructed finally releasing the doctor from his iron grip.

"You can go wait in the recovery wing if you'd like. I'll get you when she can have visitors." The doctor said nervously.

Happy and Rhodey both nodded but decided they'd check up on Tony first. Happy sent another prayer skyward that the surgery was going smoothly.

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'_Tony knock it off. Please behave.' Pepper reprimanded softly as they boarded his plane. _

'_Well this is my plane so that means I can be as bad as I like.' Tony retorted with a smile._

'_You know what happens to bad boys? They get punished.' Pepper said with a sexy smile her tone oozing seductiveness._

'_Oh yeah? And just how would you punish me Mrs. Stark?' Pepper grinned and walked up to him and whispered in his ear. _

'_Well um...' She slunk back into her chair with a grin at Tony's reaction._

'_Mrs. Stark you have one dirty mind.' _

'_So would you rather I not-'_

'_No!' Tony shouted quickly and Pepper just grinned._

'_That's what I thought.' She got up from her seat and began to walk away from Tony towards the room in the plane. _

'_Where are you going?' Her husband asked curiously._

'_Well I was going to take a nap but I can always wait until later if you want to join me.' She said with a smile. Tony bolted from his chair and captured Pepper in a heated kiss as he pushed them into the bedroom and locked the door._

Pepper's eyes slowly fluttered open as she tried to adjust to the white light. Her whole body felt numb except for one spot on her left hand. She turned to look at her hand and had to blink a few times to clear away the fuzziness and finally saw that it was an I.V. in her arm. She looked around and finally realized she was in a hospital. That's when movie image flashbacks started. Tony had saved her. Where was he? She looked around her room again but saw no one. Maybe he was in the bathroom or getting something to eat? Pepper looked around again and this time took note of the special cast that was on her arm and it already had two signatures. She smiled knowing it had to be the work of Tony. She had a red and yellow striped cast on her arm. She wondered how much headache he had given the doctors to do it. Pepper looked with curiosity at the way her arm had been wrapped up and held close to her chest. She strained to read what was written on her cast.

She read, 'Happy was here. I'm hungry.' And, 'Rhodey loves Pepper.' Pepper frowned. Tony hadn't signed the cast. He would have been adamant about being the first one to sign it and he wouldn't have not been here when she woke if everything was okay. Fear latched onto her heart much like a child would their mother and didn't let go. If he wasn't with her then where was he? Minutes later as she was staring out the window at the night scape of Malibu, Rhodey and Happy entered her room.

"Pepper you're awake!" Happy cried happily through a mouthful of hotdog. Normally she knew she would have laughed and smiled but all she could think about was Tony. She was on edge and fearful of what had happened to him.

"Where's Tony?" She croaked not realizing how dry her throat was. She cleared her throat and was handed a small cup of water. She gratefully accepted it from Rhodey. She watched with interest how Rhodey silently and solemnly took a seat and brought it next to her bed with a sad smile and sat down. "Rhodey?" She questioned worriedly.

Her heart beat faster and had she been able to, she would've gotten up and began pacing to release her nervous energy. He hung his head and played with his hands for a moment before he looked up and said, "Barely alive."

Pepper turned her head and looked away in shock out the window as the first few tears of realization began to collect in her eyes. "What…what happened?" She asked shakily.

"The uh…" Rhodey cleared his throat before continuing, "the building blew when Tony was still inside. When I found him…he was…" Rhodey blew out a shaky breath and continued, "he was impaled by a piece of rebar. He was dead Pepper, for at least three minutes."

Tears openly began to fall as the image of Tony dead entered her mind. Her lip began to quiver but she refused to start making a scene. The EMT's in the ambulance were losing hope. The last time they paddled him though…a miracle happened. It didn't work right away, but a few seconds later he woke up and the first thing he said was your name." Rhodey spoke sadly.

Pepper's heart ached. Even when he was dead he was thinking of her. "Where is he?" she asked finally turning back to look at Rhodey who also had a few tears in his eyes. Happy just looked somber as he heard the story again and ate his hotdog.

"He's in surgery." Happy responded for Rhodey. "The rebar that impaled him punctured his left lung and it collapsed. They're trying to remove the air build up and fix his lung tissue that was damaged. He's been in surgery for three hours and they never told us how long before we'll get to see him because his wound was so serious. They were actually surprised he came back, but you know Tony, he can't go down without a fight."

Pepper continued to cry but a tiny smile came to her lips. "Why don't you focus on flushing the drugs out from your system. The doc says that they drugged you with Thorazine and Ultram which is why your pulse was so faint and weak. They also said it'll take about eight weeks for your collar bone to heal and about six for your arm to heal." Rhodey informed.

"I want to see him as soon as he's out of surgery." Pepper spoke softly.

"That's not going to happen." Happy spoke finishing off his food. "You're stuck here in bed until the drugs are flushed out."

"What?!" Pepper cried in disbelief. "How long is that going to be?!"

"They said twenty-four hours. You move and it'll pump the drugs through your veins which is what we're trying not to do. So you're stuck laying here drinking water." Happy explained.

"This is ridiculous! He needs me!" Pepper cried defiantly as a new set of tears appeared.

"Hey Pepper, I'll try and work something out, I promise." Rhodey spoke softly.

Pepper just nodded not trusting her voice to work. She just needed Tony. They had been pushed apart for two days and it had been the worst two days of her life. It was even worse than when Tony was missing for three months because now, now they were together and they were in-love. Tony was the only medicine she needed. His love, his arms, his comfort, that was enough to heal her. But she was especially grateful that she had been spared seeing Tony dead. Just the mental image she got form Rhodey terrified her. She couldn't imagine what Rhodey must have gone through having to find him like that and hold him. She shuddered as a cold chill shimmied down her spine. Her stomach growled interrupting her musings and she looked up sheepishly at Rhodey and Happy.

"Do you guys think you could get me something to eat please? I don't want some horrible hospital food either. Like maybe…a cheeseburger." Pepper said suddenly really wanting a cheeseburger.

Happy just laughed as he was reminded of Tony's ridiculous request for a cheeseburger the minute after they had gotten him back. "I'll get it. You cool here Rhodey?"

"Yeah , I'm good. Can you get me something chicken please?"

"Sure, I'll be back soon. Call me if he gets out of surgery before I get back."

"Done deal. Drive safe." Rhodey said seriously.

"I'll do my best." Happy replied.

"Thank you Happy." She said through a small smile.

"Rest up Pepper." Happy called out.

"I'll do my best." She parroted.

They watched Happy walk out the door and then it seemed as if Rhodey's inner child had switched on. Pepper suspected it was just him trying not to cry and think about Tony. "Now that he's gone we're going to have some Rhodey, Pepper fun time. We can't sit here waiting for Tony consumed in our grief, he's always late."

Pepper laughed at just how true his statement was until it began to hurt her shoulder.

"So Ms. Potts, I've heard you're quite the Angel fan; well I'm a bigger fan and to prove it I challenge you to a game of Angel trivia." Rhodey said with a childish grin.

"Oh please, you are so going to lose. When I'm through with you they'll have to peel you off the walls." Pepper said with a grin. Nobody challenged her passion or her title of biggest Angel fan.

"We'll see about that. I'll start off easy on you. What was Angel's name before he was sired?"

"Ha." Pepper scoffed before quickly answering, "Liam. Way too easy, you're gonna have to step up your game if you want to try and beat me. Which demon took angel to see Buffy when she lived in L.A. and was just being called a slayer?"

"What?! That's not fair, that's Buffy not Angel."

"Doesn't matter, any self-respecting Angel fan watched Buffy and seeing as he was in more than one episode of Buffy it's valid. Now are you going to answer the question or forfeit and admit that I'm a bigger fan?" She asked with a smirk.

"I never said I didn't know it." Rhodey defended. Pepper just grinned momentarily forgetting about Tony and Hammer and everything bad that was going on around them. "Whistler." Rhodey answered with a grin.

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**81 days people! So i hope you liked this and as you can see i did not kill off Tony, so i think i should get some props for that and maybe some extra reviews. Also as a side note tomorrow is a friends birthday so...HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kcrella! This update is for you! **


	26. Awake and Alive

**Hey hey hey guys! Look who's finally back with the second to last chapter. yes you read right, next chapter is the final chapter! :') happy tear. Thanks for the couple reviews i got last chapter. So guys this is a long chapter dedicated all to...Tony. That's right, you should be able to get your full dose of Tony and Pepperony this chapter, got a little Rhodey too, but mostly Pepperony. So i hope you guys really like this chapter. **

Chapter 26: Awake and Alive

He could hear voices. He didn't remember anything they said and barely understood what they were saying in the first place. All he remembered was suddenly waking up and seeing something covering his mouth and nose. He blinked but everything felt so hazy and so far away. He felt so tired. He blinked a few times again as his mind felt so dull and slowly his eyes closed again and he fell back asleep. The next time Tony woke he felt a little stronger but still so tired. He tried to look around, to see where he was and what was going on but his brain wasn't registering anything his eyes saw. A single thought broke through his comfortably numb brain and he tried searching for her. _Pepper,_ He thought. He tried fighting the overwhelming power commanding him to sleep but that only rendered him even more tired. He saw the weird thing was still covering his mouth and nose and then his eyes began to droop closed again. _Pepper,_ he thought again and then he fell back asleep.

"Tony. Tony." A sweet voice called softly luring him awake. Tony tried opening his eyes but time after time again his eyes continued to close. "Tony." The voice called out again. Tony's synapsis fired as fast as it could through his opiate muddled brain, working to identify the voice. It called out his name again in that enchanting tone and this time Tony knew it was Pepper who had called out to him. His eyes snapped open and he looked around until Pepper's voice drew his eyes to her. He saw the faint red coloring her eyes and her tear stained angelic face. He saw her arm in a red and yellow cast being held to her chest in a sling that was secured in its spot. "Hi. Welcome back."

Tony tried to speak to question what she meant by, 'Welcome back', but found that while the mask wasn't covering his face, his throat was dryer than the desert he was held captive in. He saw Pepper smile and slowly get up from the chair she sat in and poured him a cup of water with one arm. Tony took note of the fact that Pepper was wearing a pair of his sweatpants and his AC/DC shirt he had gotten at one of their concerts. Tony tried to think of what happened but all he could remember was that he had gone to save Pepper from Hammer. He vaguely remembered kissing her and feeling a sense of despair but everything else was blank. Pepper put the cup to his lips and he wondered why she didn't just hand him the cup. Obviously Pepper had seen his confusion and she simply said, "Drink." And tilted the cup for him to drink.

He felt the cool water pleasantly shimmy down his throat. "More." He rasped. Pepper complied and after a few more cups of water his throat felt better and not as dry. "What happened?" He asked in confusion.

"I only know from what Rhodey told me, but you saved me. There was a bomb that went off and you were still inside. You were impaled with a piece of rebar. Your doctor said it punctured your lung and shortly after your lung collapsed. They put you in surgery and removed the air buildup and fixed your lung." Tony noticed how her voice began to tremble and what she said next broke his heart as he thought of what she had endured. "You...when Rhodey found you…you were…you were dead, Tony."

"I'm sorry Pepper." He said reaching out for her hand. She took his hand and laid it back on the bed keeping her hand in his.

"The doctor is sworn to secrecy about your reactor. I had a little talk with him and so did Rhodey. You were on an air mask until you finally leveled out and were able to breathe for yourself."

"How long have I been asleep?" He wondered aloud.

"You've been out for four days. Rhodey said you came to twice but you went back to sleep." Pepper informed.

"What happened to you?" Tony asked with his face full of sadness and guilt.

"Well I was drugged with Thorazine and Ultram. My Ulna and Radius is broken also known as my forearm, my collar bone is broken, and my shoulder is, was dislocated." She said matter of factly.

"I'm sorry Pep-" He began feeling horrible that he had put Pepper in harm's way again.

"Don't start that. It wasn't your fault Tony. This was Hammer, not us, not you." She said giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

Tony smiled briefly and said, "I love you Pepper." He didn't need to hear her say the words back to him to know she loved him. He could see it in her smile.

"I love you too Tony." She stood up and carefully leaned over the bed softly kissing his lips. Tony's heart beat a little faster at the touch of her soft lips, which could be heard on the machine he was connected to and Pepper chuckled a little into their kiss. Habit took over as he tied to deepen the kiss and he tried shifting but a sharp pain in his chest pulled him away from Pepper and stopped him from moving. He cried out in pain and grit his teeth as he waited for the pain to go away. "Oh Tony, I'm sorry." Pepper apologized profusely.

"Not…your…fault." He ground out as the pain still continued to surge throughout his chest. He cried out once more as a wave of pain hit him like a tsunami then subsided. It hurt to breathe and so Tony took quick shallow breaths until the pain in his chest stopped and he could breathe normally again. "How long until this heals?" He asked still feeling the effects of the intense pain.

"About eight weeks." Pepper replied with an apologetic smile.

"Oh God, no sex for eight weeks?! I'm gonna die!" Tony cried exasperated. Pepper just laughed and smiled.

"I won't be out of this cast for eight weeks and my collar bone is going to take even longer to heal."

"Ugh! I'm gonna die!" Tony cried again.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." Pepper replied with a smile and a gentle squeeze of his hand.

"Thank you." Tony said.

"For what?" Pepper asked genuinely confused.

"For being here with me." Tony replied with a grateful smile in his eyes.

Pepper gave him a loving smile and replied, "I'll always be with you Tony. You can't get rid of me, but just in case a doctor asks, I did not sneak out of my room."

Tony grinned and said, "Sly, Potts."

Pepper chuckled but then said seriously, "I wanted to see you, or rather I had to see you. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Tony said gently rubbing her hand with his thumb. "I remember the pain I felt seeing you get hurt and how much I missed holding you."

A few tears appeared in her eyes and she said, "I thought I would never see you again. I started thinking about how impossible it would be for you to find me. Then…you came and saved me." Tony could hear the raw emotion in her voice and just how much she had begun to think she would die by Hammer's hand.

"What happened to Hammer?" He asked angrily.

"He and Emma escaped. Danny was caught in the explosion and died. There's a worldwide manhunt for him. We'll catch up to him Tony."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Tony said softly. "That he'll be waiting and plan something bigger and kill you. I can't lose you Pepper, I'll lose myself." He said as the pain of memory of the sadness and despair he felt when she was gone begin to cover him like a blanket.

Pepper squeezed his hand and rubbed comforting circles on his hand just like he had done for her. "You'll never lose me Tony; I'll always be yours no matter where I am."

Tony was silent for a moment before he asked worriedly, "Pepper, would you marry me?"

"You're asking me to marry you?" She asked in shock trying to clarify what was happening.

"I'm asking would you, if I asked you. Would you want to be hitched to me?" He asked looking at her with fear in his eyes.

Pepper smiled at him and said, "You tell me." She got up again form her uncomfortable chair and softly placed a lingering kiss on his lips.

"So I can expect a yes?" he asked with a hopeful smile?

Pepper rolled her eyes and answered with a smile, "Yes."

"Awesome." Tony replied with a grin.

"Please don't go nuts when you propose." Pepper begged.

"But Pep, that's the fun part. I'm only ever gonna do this once, so I have to make it big."

"Why did I even think you would be able to do it small?" She asked herself with a roll of her eyes.

"Tony grinned and laced his fingers with Pepper's. "I have no idea considering you've known me for what, ten years?"

"Twelve." Pepper corrected.

"That long huh?" Pepper laughed and kissed him again before unhooking her hand from his. Tony frowned and looked at her confused.

"I snuck out, remember? The nurse will be coming around to check on me in ten minutes. I am however getting discharged tomorrow. You'll be stuck here for another three days so they can monitor your breathing and make sure there were no complications with the surgery."

"Don't go Pep!" Tony protested.

She gave him a small sad smile and said, "I'll be back tomorrow. I'll have Rhodey get you your phone so we can text. I love you Tony, rest up." She walked over to the door but then walked back and said, "One for the road." Pepper leaned down and captured his lips in a heated kiss that Tony happily returned minding his injury. Not a minute later after many stolen kisses Tony had to break away to allow his scarred lung to breathe. Pepper took in a few breaths herself and smiled. "I'll text you in a few. Rhodey wants to talk to you."

"Bye Pep, I love you!"

"I love you too Tony." She replied before walking out of his rom.

Tony sighed as Pepper walked out and immersed himself in the memory of Pepper's touch. Tony began thinking of ways he could propose to Pepper and smiled each time as he heard her say, 'yes'. Tony lost track of time as he imagined a future with Pepper as his fiancée and then his wife and mother of his kids. A grin appeared on his face as Rhodey walked in.

"And this year's best friend award goes to Colonel James Rhodes!" Tony announced playfully.

Rhodey grinned and said, "Glad to see you're awake and that dying clearly didn't affect your personality."

Tony grinned and replied, "Please, it'd have to take more than a collapsed lung to kill me."

"You know you scared the hell out of me. I'm the one who was left to find you dead." Rhodey said seriously.

"Sorry." Tony apologized sincerely.

"You told me you'd be careful, then…what do you do? You go and get yourself killed! I'm so angry with you! You left me alone and you left Pepper alone!"

"It wasn't exactly by choice." Tony tried defending.

"That doesn't matter, it's not the point! The point is you died, it's real, it happened, it can happen, and I was left alone!" Rhodey shouted releasing his pent up anger.

"I'm sorry Rhodey." Tony said looking truly sincere.

Rhodey took a deep breath as all his anger was finally released and he said, "I was so devastated for a full five minutes. I was convinced I'd be planning your funeral with Pepper and Happy. He has already said how he'll take his revenge during your boxing sessions and that he'll kick your ass." Rhodey said with a grin. Tony smirked and grinned. "I'm glad you're back man."

"Me too." Tony said with a smile. Tony watched as Rhodey fumbled with his pocket and then pulled out his iStark. "Oh thanks Rhodey, you're a lifesaver." Tony said eagerly reaching out for his phone.

"Yeah, literally." Rhodey replied. "Looks like Pepper already texted you too." Tony smiled as he took ahold of his phone and opened the text.

"Thanks Rhodey. I appreciate it."

"No problem man. Now, I'm gonna go get dinner with Happy. I can have the nurse come in and get you something to eat, sorry but you're confined to hospital food after surgery."

"Wonderful." Tony muttered sarcastically.

"I'll see you later man."

"Yup." Tony replied. "Bye Rhodey, thanks again." Rhodey nodded and left leaving Tony alone and free to text Pepper.

As Tony looked down to the phone in his hands he grinned. _I expect to be surprised when you propose._

'_Trust me, you won't see it coming.' _Tony texted in reply.

Almost instantly Tony received the reply. _You're as predictable as…I don't know what, but you're very predictable._

'_Am not.'_ He replied defensively.

_Yes you are. You start acting really weird, weirder than usual. I know all your tells._

'_Just wait Potts; you'll be so surprised you'll surprise yourself with how surprised you are.'_

_We'll see about that Mr. Stark._

'_After all this is over and we're both back up to par, we're going on that one month vacation.'_

_Oh God, that sounds so nice._

'_You sound nice. ;)' _Tony replied with a grin on his face.

_Get used to celibacy Mr. Stark; you're not getting anything until we're both healed. _

'_Oh we'll see just how long you can hold out. I give you two weeks.' _

_Happy says he's looking forward to beating you in the ring._

Tony smirked. _'Please, even on my worst day he couldn't pin me.'_

_He says he bets you thirty dollars he can pin you on your best day._

'_Game on Happy.'_

_Take it easy on him Tony, he does drive us around and puts up with you._

'_How about easy-ish?'_

_No, easy._

'_Fine :('_

_Good boy. :)_

Tony paused before texting her and thought of different little gifts he could give Pepper but wanted her to tell him what she would prefer without her getting suspicious. '_How about we play Tony Stark's version of twenty questions. I get to ask you any ten questions and you get to ask me any ten questions.'_

Pepper's reply didn't come until a minute later and Tony had begun to think she had fallen asleep. _You go first, Stark._

Tony grinned. _'Flowers or chocolate?'_

_Chocolate hands down, flowers die. What's your favorite Iron Man suit?_

'_Tough one. I'd say the Mark VI, it's faster and it has the right shade of paint. Jewelry or food?'_

_Jewelry lasts longer. Best Christmas present you've gotten?_

'_Difficult, I'd say the gold Rolex you got me.'_

_I don't believe you. _

'_It's true. Gold, Silver, or platinum?'_

_Silver. Favorite stuffed animal you had as a kid?_

'_Pssh. Me? A stuffed animal? Please Pepper; I was a genius, not a toddler.'_

_That's bull; now what was it?_

'_It was a teddy bear, okay? I named him J. Snuffletrunks.'_

_Wow haha that's an interesting name._

'_Don't judge, you have a stuffed prairie dog in your house.'_

_You've never been in my apartment._

'_I should. What would you prefer to receive, money or a gift?'_

_Gift. Money means, here I don't know you well enough to get you an actual gift. Best sex of your life?_

'_Whoa. You're going there huh? Well if you must know it was with you._

_So you're saying I rocked your world?_

'_Rocked it twice actually. Front, back, and sideways. ;) My turn. Where, when, and with who was your first time?'_

_New Year's Eve party, my freshman year of college, with my boyfriend Matt Spencer. _

'_Wow, that's late. You were what, nineteen?'_

'_Eighteen actually. Favorite movie?_

'_The Italian Job, well that or Taken. Were you the little girl who played with Barbies or Hot Wheels?'_

_Barbies. I had the Barbie Dream House. What did you play with as a kid?_

'_Circuit boards, motorcycle engines, anything mechanical really.'_

_So were you the 'know it all' kid nobody liked?_

'_That counts as a question btw, but no. I was actually really liked, envied yes, hated by some. I played football, wide receiver, even though I was only like eleven. I was fast as lightning and since I was smaller than the other guys they had a hard time catching me. I was nicknamed, Diablillo ràpido. It meant fast, little devil but when translated exactly means fast IMP.'_

_Really? I never would have guessed that about you. _

'_Yup. I was the cool kid, everyone's little brother. I helped all the guys out with their hw. Now, it's my turn to ask two questions. Shoes or jewelry? Also, favorite type of ice-cream?'_

_Oh shoes hands down. Chocolate chip cookie dough. Now which do you like better, AC/DC or Black Sabbath?_

'_Oh God, that's like impossible to choose Pepper. How could you ask me to choose one over the other? That's cruel!'_

_Okay, okay so you like them both equally._

'_Yes!'_

_Geez, I didn't think you'd get a heart attack with a simple question._

'_But it wasn't simple.'_

_Alright, calm down. Just ask your next question. _

'_Fine. Breakfast in bed or dinner at a restaurant?'_

_Depends…if Rhodey is cooking then breakfast in bed but if it's you then I'd say dinner._

'_Ouch. You wound me.'_

_Tony, let's face it, you'd either hurt yourself or hurt the kitchen if you tried making something. _

'_Still, you couldn't have done it softer.'_

_That was soft._

'_That's what she said. ;)'_

_*eye roll emoticon*you're incorrigible Tony Stark._

'_And you still love me. :)'_

_Somehow. :) What's your favorite home cooked meal?_

'_Spaghetti! :)'_

_Lol :)_

'_Last question, question number 10. Why do you love me?'_

_Tony_

'_Pepper'_

_Why do I love you?_

'_Yes, why?'_

_I love you because even though you're flawed and messed up and you know it, you're trying to change to be a better person for me. I love you because your heart is too big for your chest but you refuse to let anyone see that side of you because you think no one will take you seriously. I love you because you're willing to sacrifice your happiness to save others. I love you because you do spontaneous little romantic gestures that mean more than a gift you give me on my birthday, when you remember that is. ;) That's why I love you Tony, forever and always. 3 _

'_:') 3 #IThinkYou'reAmazing!'_

_:) Why do you love me Tony?_

'_:D That's easy. I love you because you're beautiful inside and out. From the way you walk to the way you play with your hair or grab my hand when you're scared. I love you Pepper because you choose to look deeper than the surface. You're the only one who sees the real me. I love you because for ten years you stuck around even though I put you through hell and have never so much as said thank you but a few times. I love you because you've seen me at my best and my worst and you were always there to set me straight or encourage me. I love you Pepper because you've always been by my side when nobody else was. 3'_

_Tony that was incredibly sweet._

'_Like you. :)'_

_:) I'm getting tired I think I'm going to take a nap. Goodnight Teddy Bear, I love you. :) 3_

_Great. -_- Goodnight Pepper. I love you too. 3_

Tony smiled and set his phone down on the rolling table next to him. His stomach growled and Tony remembered just how hungry he was. He pressed the call button and a minute later a nurse came walking in. She reminded him of Pepper. Ginger hair down to her shoulder pulled up in a ponytail, cerulean eyes, beautiful smile, and freckles on her cheeks. She was dressed in the horrible teal pants and a multi-colored shirt decorated with flowers and animals.

"Is everything alright Mr. Stark?" She asked politely.

"Could I get something to eat please…"

"Cindy."

"Cindy, that's a beautiful shirt, you wear it so well." Tony said with his playboy smile everyone knew him for.

Cindy smiled knowing Tony was trying to charm her and she went it. "Why thank you Mr. Stark. I'll be back in a few minutes with some food."

"Thank you Cindy, you're an angel." He said with the same smile.

Cindy smiled and shook her head as she walked out of Tony's room. Tony laid his head back against the bed and closed his eyes for a minute. He began imagining again how he would propose to Pepper, with a smile lighting up his battered face like the Fourth of July.

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**Thanks guys, so please review guys! Caution, our final chapter is quickly approaching and will be fairly short however it should set us up nicely for the sequel. See you all soon. 73 days till IM3 and check out the new poster of Guy Pearce as the Villain! **


	27. The End?

**Wow everyone, i can't believe we're here already, at the end of this story. I would like to say a big thank you to all of you who read and a bigger thank you to those of you who Favorited or followed and the biggest thank you to those of you who reviewed. Couldn't have done this without you guys. It has been one crazy ride started this back in October and now almost four months later we're done. So i hope you guys enjoy this last chapter.**

**Read, enjoy, review!**

Chapter 27: The End?

Justin Hammer looked out the porthole of the Norwegian Cruise ship at the dark and stormy ocean as he waited for his wife to come out of the bathroom so they could go to dinner. Everyone on the ship knew them only as Mr. Chadwick Deem & Mrs. Lilia Deem. Even if someone heard that they were Justin and Emma Hammer, no one would have recognized them as such. Justin had grown a beard and dyed his hair a vibrant red so he looked like a ginger and put in blue colored contacts so no eye scanner would positively I.D. him as himself. Emma had cut her hair short and dyed it a dirty-blond and wore emerald green contacts. He thought she looked rather sexy even though she continually expressed her dislike of the hair color. It had been nearly a week since the 'Stark Incident' and Emma was bitter and blamed Tony for Danny dying. After they had married two days ago they had agreed to spend two weeks with just each other on their Honeymoon and then begin planning their vengeance. As Hammer looked out into the water he pictured himself drowning Tony who looked absolutely helpless, and a small grin appeared on his face.

"You better watch your back Anthony, because I'll be back when you least expect it and this time, there'll be no escape." He said solemnly with an evil eye at the water as if it were Tony.

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Tony felt ecstatic. He was finally about to be released from his mandatory confinement in the hospital. He would finally be free again to play with his suits and cars; plus Pepper had agreed she would marry him when he proposed and he had figured out how he was going to do it. Rhodey and Happy had agreed to help and now he just had to wait a few months until she had forgotten all about their marriage conversation so she would be surprised. Of course, that was the hard part, waiting. He wanted to propose now and marry Pepper tomorrow so she would be all his but he also wanted to do it right and that made waiting just a little bit more fun. Tony was waiting for Pepper to return from signing all his release papers. He had changed into a pair of jeans and a T and was looking out the window at the mid-morning sun that was high in the sky. There was a knock at the door and upon turning he smiled.

"Hi beautiful, am I free to go?"

"Yes, you've been approved to leave. Doc says you have a clean bill of health. They do however want to check up on you in a month to see how everything is healing."

"Ugh, can't I just have JARVIS look me over?"

"No Tony, the doctor will know exactly what to look for."

"Doctor's make mistakes, JARVIS doesn't."

"Please Tony, for me." She begged using her puppy dog eyes.

"Fine." He relented with a huff. Tony grabbed his small bad and slung it over his left shoulder and slipped his right into Pepper's left. As they were walking down the hall to meet up with Happy, fingers intertwined, Tony interrupted the comfortable silence. "You know, my single greatest fear when I was a kid was that I would die, my second biggest fear was that something would happen to my brain. Clearly, all that has changed so do me a favor and please stop finding yourself in grave danger." Tony pleaded.

Pepper grinned and replied, "I'll try but with my boyfriend that's like telling him to stop being a genius. Besides, the only fear is fear itself." She said.

Tony grinned and looked to Pepper with a smile knowing just how much fun he was going to have proposing to her.

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**Tear, it is finished. Be sure to keep an eye out for some of my other stories i have coming out, amongst them i have , the sequel to this story, a Tony and Pepper meeting on Spring Break, and an alphabetical musical story. So guys what do you say, for old time sakes would you review one last time on here . **

**Thank you guys for all of your support. For those of you waiting till May 3, 68 Days remain! See you all soon!**


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